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FRANCIS  PARKMAN’S  WORKS 


VOLUME  ELEVEN 


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1 


Montcalm  and  Wolfe 


[ France  and  England  in  North  America 

Part  Seventh ] 

BY 

FRANCIS  PARKMAN 

* 

IN  THREE  VOLUMES 
Volume  One 


BOSTON 

LITTLE ,  BROWN ,  AND  COMPANY 

1905 


t 


Copyright ,  1884 , 

By  Francis  Parkman. 

Copyright  i8g/y 

By  Little,  Brown,  and  Company. 

All  rights  reserved. 


SSnibersttg  IBress: 

ohn  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge,  U.S.  A. 


HARVARD  COLLEGE, 

THE  ALMA  MATER  UNDER  WHOSE  INFLUENCE  THE 
PURPOSE  OF  WRITING  IT  WAS  CONCEIVED, 

THIS  BOOK 

IS  AFFECTIONATELY  INSCRIBED. 


818T6 


PREFACE. 


The  names  on  the  titlepage  stand  as  repre¬ 
sentative  of  the  two  nations  whose  final  contest 
for  the  control  of  North  America  is  the  subject 
of  the  book. 

A  very  large  amount  of  unpublished  material 
has  been  used  in  its  preparation,  consisting  for 
the  most  part  of  documents  copied  from  the 
archives  and  libraries  of  France  and  England, 
especially  from  the  Archives  de  la  Marine  et  des 
Colonies,  the  Archives  de  la  Guerre,  and  the 
Archives  Nationales  at  Paris,  and  the  Public 
Record  Office  and  the  British  Museum  at  Lorn 
don.  The  papers  copied  for  the  present  work 

in  France  alone  exceed  six  thousand  folio  pages 

« 

of  manuscript,  additional  and  supplementary  to 
the  “  Paris  Documents  ”  procured  for  the  State 
of  New  York  under  the  agency  of  Mr.  Brodhead. 
The  copies  made  in  England  form  ten  volumes, 
besides  many  English  documents  consulted  in 


Vlll 


PREFACE. 


the  original  manuscript.  Great  numbers  of 
autograph  letters,  diaries,  and  other  writings 
of  persons  engaged  in  the  war  have  also  been 
examined  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

I  owe  to  the  kindness  of  the  present  Marquis 
de  Montcalm  the  permission  to  copy  all  the  let¬ 
ters  written  by  his  ancestor,  General  Montcalm, 
when  in  America,  to  members  of  his  family  in 
France.  General  Montcalm,  from  his  first  ar¬ 
rival  in  Canada  to  a  few  days  before  his  death, 
also  carried  on  an  active  correspondence  with 
one  of  his  chief  officers,  Bourlamaque,  with 
whom  he  was  on  terms  of  intimacy.  These 
autograph  letters  are  now  preserved  in  a  private 
collection.  I  have  examined  them,  and  obtained 
copies  of  the  whole.  They  form  an  interesting 
complement  to  the  official  correspondence  of  the 
writer,  and  throw  the  most  curious  sidelights 
on  the  persons  and  events  of  the  time. 

Besides  manuscripts,  the  printed  matter  in  the 
form  of  books,  pamphlets,  contemporary  news¬ 
papers,  and  other  publications  relating  to  the 
American  part  of  the  Seven  Years’  War,  is 
varied  and  abundant ;  and  I  believe  I  may  safely 
say  that  nothing  in  it  of  much  consequence  has 
escaped  me.  The  liberality  of  some  of  the  older 
States  of  the  Union,  especially  New  York  and 


PREFACE. 


ix 


Pennsylvania,  in  printing  the  voluminous  records 
of  their  colonial  history,  has  saved  me  a  deal  of 
tedious  labor. 

The  whole  of  this  published  and  unpublished 
mass  of  evidence  has  been  read  and  collated  with 
extreme  care,  and  more  than  common  pains  have 
been  taken  to  secure  accuracy  of  statement. 
The  study  of  books  and  papers,  however,  could 
not  alone  answer  the  purpose.  The  plan  of  the 
work  was  formed  in  early  youth ;  and  though 
various  causes  have  long  delayed  its  execution, 
it  has  always  been  kept  in  view.  Meanwhile,  I 
have  visited  and  examined  every  spot  where 
events  of  any  importance  in  connection  with  the 
contest  took  place,  and  have  observed  with  at¬ 
tention  such  scenes  and  persons  as  might  help  to 
illustrate  those  I  meant  to  describe.  In  short, 
the  subject  has  been  studied  as  much  from  life 
and  in  thu  open  air  as  at  the  library  table. 

These  two  volumes  are  a  departure  from  chro¬ 
nological  sequence.  The  period  between  1700 
and  1748  has  been  passed  over  for  a  time. 
When  this  gap  is  filled,  the  series  of  “  France 
and  England  in  North  America  ”  will  form  a 
continuous  history  of  the  French  occupation  of 
the  continent. 

The  portrait  in  the  first  volume  is  from  a 


X 


PREFACE. 


photograph  of  the  original  picture  in  possession 
of  the  Marquis  de  Montcalm  ;  that  in  the  second, 
from  a  photograph  of  the  original  picture  in 
possession  of  Admiral  Warde. 


Boston,  September  16,  1884. 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Introduction  . . .  .  3 

CHAPTER  I. 

1745-1755. 

THE  COMBATANTS. 

England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century :  her  Political  and  Social 
Aspects;  her  Military  Condition.  —  France:  her  Power 
and  Importance.  —  Signs  of  Decay.  —  The  Court,  the  Nobles, 
the  Clergy,  the  People.  —  The  King  and  Pompadour.  — The 
Philosophers.  —  Germany.  —  Prussia.  —  Frederic  II.  —  Rus¬ 
sia. —  State  of  Europe.  —  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession. 

—  American  Colonies  of  France  and  England.  —  Contrasted 
Systems  and  their  Results.  —  Canada :  its  Strong  Military 
Position.  —  French  Claims  to  the  Continent.  —  British  Colo¬ 
nies.  —  New  England. —  Virginia.  —  Pennsylvania.  —  New 
York.  — Jealousies,  Divisions,  Internal  Disputes.  —  Military 
Weakness . .  .  .  7 


CHAPTER  H. 

1749-1752. 

CELORON  DE  BIENVILLE. 

La  Galissonihre.  —  English  Encroachment.  —  Mission  of  Celoron. 

—  The  Great  West:  its  European  Claimants;  its  Indian 
Population.  —  English  Fur-traders.  —  Celoron  on  the  Alle¬ 
ghany  :  his  Reception ;  his  Difficulties.  —  Descent  of  the 
Ohio.  —  Covert  Hostility.  —  Ascent  of  the  Miami. — La 
Demoiselle. — Dark  Prospects  for  France.  —  Christopher 
Gist,  George  Croghan :  their  Western  Mission.  —  Picka- 
willany.  —  English  Ascendency.  —  English  Dissension  and 
Rivalry.  —  The  Key  of  the  Great  West . .  39 


XU 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  III. 


1749-1753. 


CONFLICT  FOR  THE  WEST. 


Page 


The  Five  Nations. —  Caughnawaga. —  Abbe'  Piquet :  his  Schemes ; 
his  Journey.  —  Fort  Frontenac.  —  Toronto.  —  Niagara. 

Oswego.  —  Success  of  Piquet.  —  Detroit.  —  La  Jonquiere  : 
his  Intrigues ;  his  Trials ;  his  Death.  —  English  Intrigues.  — 
Critical  State  of  the  West.  —  Pickawillany  destroyed.  — 
Duquesne :  his  Grand  Enterprise  .  . . 67 


CHAPTER  IV. 


1710-1754. 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA. 


Acadia  ceded  to  England.  —  Acadians  swear  Fidelity.  —  Halifax 
founded.  —  French  Intrigue.  —  Acadian  Priests.  —  Mildness 
of  English  Rule.  —  Covert  Hostility  of  Acadians.  —  The  New 
Oath. — Treachery  of  Versailles.  —  Indians  incited  to  War. 

—  Clerical  Agents  of  Revolt.  — Abbe  Le  Loutre.  —  Acadians 
impelled  to  emigrate.  —  Misery  of  the  Emigrants.  —  Humanity 
of  Cornwallis  and  Hopson.  — Fanaticism  and  Violence  of  Le 
Loutre.  —  Capture  of  the  “  St.  Francois.”  —  The  English  at 
Beaubassin.  —  Le  Loutre  drives  out  the  Inhabitants.  —  Mur¬ 
der  of  Howe.  —  Beausejour.  —  Insolence  of  Le  Loutre :  his 
Harshness  to  the  Acadians.  —  The  Boundary  Commission  : 
its  Failure.  —  Approaching  War . 94 


CHAPTER  V. 
1753,  1754. 


WASHINGTON. 

The  French  occupy  the  Sources  of  the  Ohio :  their  Sufferings. 


Fort  Le  Boeuf.  —  Legardeur  de  Saint-Pierre.  —  Mission  of 
Washington.  —  Robert  Dinwiddie  :  he  opposes  the  French; 
his  Dispute  with  the  Burgesses ;  his  Energy ;  his  Ap¬ 
peals  for  Help.  —  Fort  Duquesne.  —  Death  of  Jumonvill^.— 
Washington  at  the  Great  Meadows.  —  Coulon  de  Villiers.  — 


Fort  Necessity 


133 


CONTENTS. 


Xlil 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1754,  1755. 

THE  SIGNAL  OP  BATTLE. 

Troubles  of  Dinwiddie.  —  Gathering  of  the  Burgesses.  —  Vir¬ 
ginian  Society.  —  Refractory  Legislators.  —  The  Quaker  As¬ 
sembly:  it  refuses  to  resist  the  French.  —  Apathy  of  New 
York.  —  Shirley  and  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts.  — 
Shortsighted  Policy.  —  Attitude  of  Royal  Governors.  —  In¬ 
dian  Allies  waver.  —  Convention  at  Albany.  —  Scheme  of 
Union:  it  fails.  —  Dinwiddie  *  and  Glen.  —  Dinwiddie  calls 
on  England  for  Help.  —  The  Duke  of  Newcastle.  —  Weak¬ 
ness  of  the  British  Cabinet  —  Attitude  of  France.  —  Mutual 
Dissimulation.  —  Both  Pavers  send  Troops  to  America. — 
Collision. — Capture  of  the  “  Alcide  ”  and  the  “Lis”  .  .  . 


Page 


168 


CHAPTER  VII. 

1755. 

BRADDOCK. 

Arrival  of  Braddock:  his  Character.  —  Council  at  Alexandria. 

—  Plan  of  the  Campaign.  —  Apathy  of  the  Colonists.  —  Rage 
of  Braddock.  —  Franklin.  —  Fort  Cumberland.  —  Composi¬ 
tion  of  the  Army.  —  Offended  Friends.  —  The  March.  —  The 
French  Fort.  —  Savage  Allies.  —  The  Captive.  —  Beaujeu : 
he  goes  to  meet  the  English.  —  Passage  of  the  Monongahela. 

—  The  Surprise.  —  The  Battle.  —  Rout  of  Braddock  his 
Death.  —  Indian  Ferocity.  —  Reception  of  the  111  News.  — 
Weakness  of  Dunbar.  —  The  Frontier  abandoned  .  .  .  .  ^194 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1755. 

REMOVAL  OP  THE  ACADIANS. 


State  of  Acadia.  —  Threatened  Invasion.  —  Peril  of  the  English  : 
their  Plans. — French  Forts  to  be  attacked. — Beausejour 
and  its  Occupants.  —  French  Treatment  of  the  Acadians.  — 
John  Winslow.  —  Siege  and  Capture  of  Beausejour.  —  Atti- 


-V  — - 


/ 


A 


XIV 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

tude  of  Acadians.  —  Influence  of  their  Priests :  they  refuse 
the  Oath  of  Allegiance ;  their  Condition  and  Character.  — 
Pretended  Neutrals.  —  Moderation  of  English  Authorities.  — 

The  Acadians  persist  in  their  Refusal.  —  Enemies  or  Sub¬ 
jects  ?  —  Choice  of  the  Acadians.  —  The  Consequence.  —  Their 
Removal  determined.  —  Winslow  at  Grand  Pre.  —  Conference 
with  Murray.  —  Summons  to  the  Inhabitants:  their  Seizure; 
their  Embarkation;  their  Eate  ;  their  Treatment  in  Canada. 

—  Misapprehension  concerning  them  . . 243 

CHAPTER  IX. 

1755. 

DIESKAU. 

Expedition  against  Crown  Point. —  William  Johnson. —  Vau- 
dreuil.  —  Dieskau. — Johnson  and  the  Indians.  —  The  Pro¬ 
vincial  Army.  —  Doubts  and  Delays,  —  March  to  Lake 
George.  —  Sunday  in  Camp.  —  Advance  of  Dieskau :  he 
changes  Plan.  —  Marches  against  Johnson.  —  Ambush.  — 

Rout  of  Provincials.  — Battle  of  Lake  George.  —  Rout  of  the 
French. —  Rage  of  the  Mohawks.  —  Peril  of  Dieskau.  —  In¬ 
action  of  Johnson.  —  The  Homeward  March.  —  Laurels  of 
Victory  . . 296 


Illustrations 

VOLUME  I. 

Louis  Joseph,  Marquis  de  Montcalm-Gozon  de 

Saint-Veran . Frontispiece 

Photogravured  by  Goupil  and  Co.,  Paris,  from  the  origi¬ 
nal  painting  in  the  possession  of  the  Marquis  de  Mont¬ 
calm. 

British  Colonies  and  Northern  New  France, 

1750-1760  . Page  3 

Facsimile  of  the  Inscription  on  a  Lead  Plate 

BURIED  BY  CeLORON  DE  BlENVILLE  ....  „  51 

After  a  photograph  of  the  original. 

Governor  James  Hamilton .  „  63 

From  the  painting  by  Benjamin  West,  in  the  State  House , 
Philadelphia. 

Acadia,  with  Adjacent  Islands .  „  94 

Robert  Dinwiddie .  „  142 

From  the  painting  belonging  to  Miss  Mary  Dinividdiex 
London. 

Chevalier  de  Levis . .  .  .  .  „  156 

From  the  painting  by  Mme.  Haudebourt,  in  the  Ver¬ 
sailles  Gallery. 

Admiral  Edward  Boscawen .  „  192 

From  a  mezzotint  engraving  by  J.  Me Ar dell,  after  a 
painting  by  J.  Reynolds. 

A  Sketch  of  the  Field  of  Battle,  July  9,  1755  .  „  221 


I 


A 


Illustrations. 


Sir  Peter  Halket  .  .  • . 

From  a  mezzotint  engraving  by  J.  McArdell,  after  a 
painting  by  Allan  Ramsay.  In  the  possession  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Historical  Society. 

The  Region  op  Lake  George  from  Surveys  made 
in  1762  . 

Israel  Putnam . 

From  a  mezzotint  engraving  after  a  painting  by  J.  Wil¬ 
kinson. 


MONTCALM  AND  WOLFE. 


MONTCALM  AND  WOLFE. 


INTRODUCTION. 

It  is  the  nature  of  great  events  to  obscure  the  great 
events  that  came  before  them.  The  Seven  Years’ 
War  in  Europe  is  seen  but  dimly  through  revolution¬ 
ary  convulsions  and  Napoleonic  tempests;  and  the 
same  contest  in  America  is  half  lost  to  sight  behind 
the  storm-cloud  of  the  War  of  Independence.  Few 
at  this  day  see  the  momentous  issues  involved  in  it, 
or  the  greatness  of  the  danger  that  it  averted.  The 
strife  that  armed  all  the  civilized  world  began  here. 
“Such  was  the  complication  of  political  interests,” 
says  Voltaire,  “that  a  cannon-shot  fired  in  America 
could  give  the  signal  that  set  Europe  in  a  blaze.” 
Not  quite.  It  was  not  a  cannon-shot,  but  a  volley 
from  the  hunting-pieces  of  a  few  backwoodsmen,  com¬ 
manded  by  a  Virginian  youth,  George  Washington. 

To  us  of  this  day,  the  result  of  the  American  part 
of  the  war  seems  a  foregone  conclusion.  It  was  far 
from  being  so ;  and  very  far  from  being  so  regarded 
by  our  forefathers.  The  numerical  superiority  of  the 
British  colonies  was  offset  by  organic  weaknesses 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

fatal  to  vigorous  and  united  action.  Nor  at  the  out¬ 
set  did  they,  or  the  mother-country,  aim  at  conquer¬ 
ing  Canada,  but  only  at  pushing  hack  her  boundaries. 
Canada  —  using  the  name  in  its  restricted  sense 
was  a  position  of  great  strength;  and  even  when  her 
dependencies  were  overcome,  she  could  hold  her  own 
against  forces  far  superior.  Armies  could  reach  her 
only  by  three  routes,  —  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence  on 
the  east,  the  Upper  St.  Lawrence  on  the  west,  and 
Lake  Champlain  on  the  south.  The  first  access  was 
guarded  by  a  fortress  almost  impregnable  by  nature, 
and  the  second  by  a  long  chain  of  dangerous  rapids ; 
while  the  third  offered  a  series  of  points  easy  to 
defend.  During  this  same  war,  Frederic  of  Prussia 
held  his  ground  triumphantly  against  greater  odds, 
though  his  kingdom  was  open  on  all  sides  to  attack. 

It  was  the  fatuity  of  Louis  XV .  and  his  P ompadour 
that  made  the .  conquest  of  Canada  possible.  Had 
they  not  broken  the  traditionary  policy  of  France, 
allied  themselves  to  Austria,  her  ancient  enemy,  and 
plunged  needlessly  into  the  European  war,  the  whole 
force  of  the  kingdom  would  have  been  turned,  from 
the  first,  to  the  humbling  of  England  and  the  defence 
of  the  French  colonies.  The  French  soldiers  left 
dead  on  inglorious  Continental  battle-fields  could 
have  saved  Canada,  and  perhaps  made  good  her  claim 

to  the  vast  territories  of  the  W est. 

But  there  were  other  contingencies.  The  posses- 
sion  of  Canada  was  a  question  of  diplomacy  as  well 
as  of  war.  If  England  conquered  her,  she  might 


V 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

| 

restore  her,  as  she  had  lately  restored  Cape  Breton. 
She  hall  an  interest  in  keeping  France,  alive  on  the 
American  continent.  More  than  one  clear  eye  saw, 
at  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  that  the  subjection  t 
of  Canada  would  lead  to  a  revolt  of  the  British 
colonies.  So  long  as  an  active  and  enterprising 
enemy  threatened  their  borders,  they  could  not  break 
with  the  mother-country,  because  they  needed  her 
help.  And  if  the  arms  of  France  had  prospered  in 
the  other  hemisphere;  if  she  had  gained  in  Europe 
or  Asia  territories  with  which  to  buy  back  what  she 
had  lost  in  America,  then,  in  all  likelihood,  Canada 
would  have  passed  again  into  her  hands. 

The  most  momentous  and  far-reaching  question 
ever  brought  to  issue  on  this  continent  was:  Shall 
France  remain  here,  or  shall  she  not?  If,  by  diplo¬ 
macy  or  war,  she  had  preserved  but  the  half,  or  less 
than  the  half,  of  her  American  possessions,  then  a 
barrier  would  have  been  set  to  the  spread  of  the  Eng¬ 
lish-speaking  races ;  there  would  have  been  no  Revo¬ 
lutionary  War;  and  for  a  long  time,  at  least,  no 
independence.  It  was  not  a  question  of  scanty  popu¬ 
lations  strung  along  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence ;  * 

it  was  —  or  under  a  government  of  any  worth  it  would 
have  been  —  a  question  of  the  armies  and  generals  of  • 
France.  America  owes  much  to  the  imbecility  of 
Louis  XV.  and  the  ambitious  vanity  and  personal 
dislikes  of  his  mistress. 

The  Seven  Years’  War  made  England  what  she  is.  . 
It  crippled  the  commerce  of  her  rival,  ruined  France  • 


I  i 

L 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

in  two  continents,  and  blighted  her  as  a  colonial 
power.  It  gave  England  the  control  of  the  seas  and. 
the  mastery  of  North  America  and  India,  made  her 
the  first  of  commercial  nations,  and  prepared  th  it 
vast  colonial  system  that  has  planted  new  Englanls 
in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  And  while  it  made 
England  what  she  is,  it  supplied  to  the  United  States 
the  indispensable  condition  of  their  greatness,  if  not 

of  their  national  existence. 

Before  entering  on  the  story  of  the  great  contest, 
we  will  look  at  the  parties  to  it  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic. 


CHAPTER  I. 

1745-1755. 

THE  COMBATANTS. 


England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  :  her  Political  and 
StfcilL  Aspect§T'her  Military  Condition. —  France  :  her 
Power  a^nd  Importance.  —  Signs  op  Decay.  -TS?  Court, 

THE  NOBLijsi  THE  CLERGY,  THE  PEOPLE.  —  The  KlNG  AND 
PoMPADOtfR.  —  The  Philosophers.  —  Germany.  —  Prussia.  — 
Frederic  II.  —  Russia.  —  State  of  Europe.  —  War  of  the 
Austrian  Succession.  —  American  Colonies  of  France  and 
England.  —  Contrasted  Systems  and  their  Results.  — 
Canada  :  its  Strong  Military  Position.  —  French  Claims 
to  the  Continent.  —  British  Colonies.  —  New  England. 
—  Virginia.  —  Pennsylvania.  —  New  York.  —  Jealousies, 
Divisions,  Internal  Disputes. — Military  Weakness. 


The  latter  half  of  the  reign  of  George  II.  was  one 
of  the  most  prosaic  periods  in  English  history.  The 
civil  wars  and  the  Restoration  had  had  their  enthusi¬ 
asms,  religion  and  liberty  on  one  side,  and  loyalty 
on  the  other;  but  the  old  fires  declined  when  William 
III.  came  to  the  throne,  and  died  to  ashes  under  the 
House  of  Hanover.  Loyalty  lost  half  its  inspiration 
when  it  lost  the  tenet  of  the  divine  right  of  kings ; 
and  nobody  could  now  hold  that  tenet  with  any  con¬ 
sistency  except  the  defeated  and  despairing  Jacobites. 
Nor  had  anybody  as  yet  proclaimed  the  rival  dogma 


/ 


8 


THE  COMBATANTS. 


[1745-1755. 

of  the  divine  right  of  the  people.  The  reigning 
monarch  held  his  crown  neither  of  God  nor  of  the 
nation,  but  of  a  parliament  controlled  by  a  ruling 
class.  The  Whig  aristocracy  had  done  a  priceless 
service  to  English  liberty.  It  was  full  of  political 
capacity,  and  by  no  means  void  of  patriotism ;  but  it 
was  only  a  part  of  the  national  life.  Nor  was  it  at 
present  moved  by  political  emotions  in  any  high 
sense.  It  had  done  its  great  work  when  it  expelled 
the  Stuarts  and  placed  William  of  Orange  on  the 
throne ;  its  ascendency  was now  complete.  The 
Stuarts  had  received  their  death-blow  at  Culloden; 
and  nothing  was  left  to  the  dominant  party  but  to 
dispute  on  subordinate  questions,  and  contend  for 
office  among  themselves.  The  Tory  squires  sulked 
in  their  country-houses,  hunted  foxes,  and  grumbled 
against  the  reigning  dynasty,  yet  hardly  wished  to 
see  the  nation  convulsed  by  a  counter-revolution  and 
another  return  of  the  Stuarts. 

If  politics  had  run  to  commonplace,  so  had  morals ; 
and  so  too  had  religion.  Despondent  writers  of  the 
day  even  complained  that  British  courage  had  died 
out.  There  was  little  sign  to  the  common  eye  that, 
under  a  dull  and  languid  surface,  forces  were  at  work 
preparing  a  new  life,  material,  moral,  and  intel¬ 
lectual.  As  yet,  Whitefield  and  Wesley  had  not 
wakened  the  drowsy  conscience  of  the  nation,  nor 
the  voice  of  William  Pitt  roused  it  like  a  trumpet- 
peal. 

It  was  the  unwashed  and  unsavory  England  of 


1745=? 


ENGLAND. 


Hogarth,  Fielding,  Smollett,  and  Sterne;  of  Tom 
Jones,  Squire  Western,  Lady  Bellaston,  and  Parson 
Adams;  of  the  “Rake’s  Progress  ”  and  “Marriage  a 
la  Mode;  ”  of  the  lords  and  ladies  who  yet  live  in  the 
undying  gossip  of  Horace  Walpole,  be-powdered, 
be-patched,  and  be-rouged,  flirting  at  masked  balls, 
playing  cards  till  daylight,  retailing  scandal,  and 
exchanging  double  meanings.  Beau  Nash  reigned 
king  over  the  gaming-tables  of  Bath ;  the  ostrich- 
plumes  of  great  ladies  mingled  with  the  peacock- 
feathers  of  courtesans  in  the  rotunda  at  Ranelagh 
Gardens;  and  young  lords  in  velvet  suits  and  em¬ 
broidered  ruffles  played  away  their  patrimony  at 
White’s  Chocolate-House  or  Arthur’s  Club.  Vice 
was  bolder  than  to-day,  and  manners  more  courtly, 
perhaps,  but  far  more  coarse. 

The  humbler  clergy  were  thought  —  sometimes 
with  reason  —  to  be  no  fit  company  for  gentlemen, 
and  country  parsons  drank  their  ale  in  the  squire’s 
kitchen.  The  passenger-wagon  spent  the  better  part 
of  a  fortnight  in  creeping  from  London  to  York. 
Travellers  carried  pistols  against  footpads  and 
mounted  highwaymen.  Dick  Turpin  and  Jack 
Sheppard  were  popular  heroes.  Tyburn  counted  its 
victims  by  scores;  and  as  yet  no  Howard  had  aj>- 
peared  to  reform  the  inhuman  abominations  of  the 
prisons. 

The  middle  class,  though  fast  rising  in  importance, 
was  feebly  and  imperfectly  represented  in  Parliament. 
The  boroughs  were  controlled  by  the  nobility  and 


10 


THE  COMBATANTS. 


[i7»rr55. 


gentry,  or  by  corporations  open  to  influe  ice  or 
bribery.  Parliamentary  corruption  had  been  reduced 
to  a  system;  and  offices,  sinecures,  pensions,  and 
gifts  of  money  were  freely  used  to  keep  ministers  in 
power.  The  great  offices  of  State  were  held  by  men 
sometimes  of  high  ability,  but  of  whom  not  a  few 
divided  their  lives  among  politics,  cards,  wine,  horse¬ 
racing,  and  women,  till  time  and  the  gout  sent  them 
to  the  waters  of  Bath.  The  dull,  pompous,  and 
irascible  old  King  had  two  ruling  passions,  money, 
and  his  Continental  dominions  of  Hanover.  His 
elder  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  was  a  centre  of  oppo¬ 
sition  to  him.  His  younger  son,  the  Duke  of  Cum¬ 
berland,  a  character  far  more  pronounced  and  vigorous, 
had  won  the  day  at  Culloden,  and  lost  it  at  Fontenoy ; 
but  whether  victor  or  vanquished,  had  shown  the 
same  vehement  bull-headed  courage,  of  late  a  little 
subdued  by  fast-growing  corpulency.  The  Duke  of 
Newcastle,  the  head  of  the  government,  had  gained 
power  and  kept  it  by  his  rank  and  connections,  his 
wealth,  his  county  influence,  his  control  of  boroughs, 
and  the  extraordinary  assiduity  and  devotion  with 
which  he  practised  the  arts  of  corruption.  Henry 
Fox,  grasping,  unscrupulous,  with  powerful  talents, 
a  warm  friend  after  his  fashion,  and  a  most  indulgent 
J  father;  Carteret,  with  his  strong,  versatile  intellect 
and  jovial  intrepidity;  the  two  Townsliends,  Mans¬ 
field,  Halifax,  and  Chesterfield,  —  were  conspicuous 
figures  in  the  politics  of  the  time.  One  man  towered 
'  above  them  all.  Pitt  had  many  enemies  and  many 


1745-1755*:* 


FRANCE. 


11 


critics  They  called  him  ambitious,  audacious,  arro¬ 
gant,  theatrical,  pompous,  domineering;  but  what  he 
has  left  for  posterity  is  a  loftiness  of  soul,  undaunted 
courage,  fiery  and  passionate  eloquence,  proud  incor¬ 
ruptibility,  domestic  virtues  rare  in  his  day,  un¬ 
bounded  faith  in  the  cause  for  which  he  stood,  and 
abilities  which  without  wealth  or  strong  connections 
were  destined  to  place  him  on  the  height  of  power. 
The  middle  class,  as  yet  almost  voiceless,  looked  to 
him  as  its  champion ;  but  he  was  not  the  champion  of  r 
a  class.  His  patriotism  was  as  comprehensive  as  it 
was  haughty  and  unbending.  He  lived  for  England, 
loved  her  with  intense  devotion,  knew  her,  believed 
in  her,  and  made  her  greatness  his  own;  or  rather, 
he  was  himself  England  incarnate. 

The  nation  was  not  then  in  fighting  equipment. 
After  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  the  army  within 
the  three  kingdoms  had  been  reduced  to  about  eigh¬ 
teen  thousand  men.  Added  to  these  were  the  gar¬ 
risons  of  Minorca  and  Gibraltar,  and  six  or  seven 
independent  companies  in  the  American  colonies. 

Of  sailors,  less  than  seventeen  thousand  were  left  in 
the  Royal  Navy.  Such  was  the  condition  of  England 
on  the  eve  of  one  of  the  most  formidable  wars  in  * 
which  she  was  ever  engaged. 

Her  rival  across  the  Channel  was  drifting  slowly 
and  unconsciously  towards  the  cataclysm  of  the 
Revolutior ;  yet  the  old  monarchy,  full  of  the  germs 
of  decay,  was  still  imposing  and  formidable.  The 


12 


THE  COMBATANTS. 


.u  ■’  J  45-17 5o. 
u  \ 

House  of  Bourbon  held  the  three  thrones  of  Fx^ance, 
Spain,  and  Naples;  and  their  threatened  union  ffn  a 
family  compact  was  the  terror  of  European  diplomacy. 
At  home  France  was  the  foremost  of  the  Continental 
nations;  and  she  boasted  herself  second  only  to 
Spain  as  a  colonial  power.  She  disputed  with  Eng¬ 
land  the  mastery  of  India,  owned  the  islands  of 
Bourbon  and  Mauritius,  held  important  possessions 
in  the  West  Indies,  and  claimed  all  North  America 
except  Mexico  and  a  strip  of  sea-coast.  Her^iiavy 
was  powerful,  her  army  numerous  and  well  appointed ; 
but  shelacked  the  great  commanders  of  the  last  reign. 
Soubise,  Maillebois,  Contades,  Broglie,  and  Clermont 
were  but  weak  successors  of  Condd,  Turenne,  Yen- 
dome,  and  Villars.  Marshal  Richelieu  was  supreme 
in  the  arts  of  gallantry,  and  more  famous  for  con¬ 
quests  of  love  than  of  war.  The  best  generals  of 
/  I^ouis  XY.  were  foreigner^!  Lowendal  sprang  from 
the  royal  house  of  Denmark ;  and  Saxe,,  the  best  of 
all,  was  one  of  the  three. .hundred  a gd  fifty-fou^bas- 
%'tards  °f  Augustus^the  Str^gj  Elector  of  Saxony  and 
if  mg' of  Poland.  He^Bl^^lfdO,  dying  at  Cham- 
bord,  his  iron  constitution  ruined  by  debaucheries. 

The  triumph  of  the  Bourbon  monarchy  was  com¬ 
plete.  The  government  had  become  one  great  ma¬ 
chine  of  centralized  administration,  with  a  king  for 
\  its  head;  though  a  king  who  neither  could  nor  would 
direct  it.  All  strife  was  over  between  the  Crown 
and  the  nobles ;  feudalism  was  robbed  of  its  vitality, 
and  left  the  mere  image  of  its  former  self,  with  noth- 


1745-1755.] 


\  'RANCE. 


13 


ing  alive  but  its  abuses,  its  caste  privileges,  its  ex¬ 
actions,  its  pride  ayd  vanity,  its  power  to  vex  and 
oppress.  Jn  England,  the  nobility  were  a  living  part 
of  the  nation,  and  if  they  had  privileges,  they  paid 
for  them  by  constant  service  to  the  State;  in  France, 
they  had  no^  political  life,  and  were  separated  from 
the  people  by  sharp  lines  of  demarcation.  From 
warrior  chiefs,  they  had  changed  to  courtiers.  Those 
of  them  who  could  afford  it,  and  many  who  could 
not,  left  their  estates  to  the  mercy  of  stewards,  and 
gathered  at  Versailles  to  revolve  about  the  throne  as 
glittering  satellites,  paid  in  pomp,  empty  distinctions, 
or  rich  sinecures,  for  the  power  they  had  lost.  They 
ruined  their  vassals  to  support  the  extravagance  by 
which  they  ruined  themselves.  Such  as  stayed  at 
home  were  objects  of  pity  and  scorn.  “  Out  of  your 
Majesty’s  presence,”  said  one  of  them,  “we  are  not 
only  wretched,  but  ridiculous.” 

Versailles  was  like  a  vast  and  gorgeous  theatre, 
where  all  were  actors  and  spectators  at  once;  and  all 
played  their  parts  to  perfection.  Here  swarmed  by 
thousands  this  silken  nobility,  whose  ancestors  rode 
cased  in  iron.  Pageant  followed  pageant.  A  picture 
of  the  time  preserves  for  us  an  evening  in  the  great 
hall  of  the  Chateau,  where  the  King,  with  piles  of 
louis  d’or  before  him,  sits  at  a  large  oval  green  table, 
throwing  the  dice,  among  princes  and  princesses, 
dukes  and  duchesses,  ambassadors,  marshals  of 
France,  and  a  vast  throng  of  courtiers,  like  an  ani¬ 
mated  bed  of  tulips ;  for  men  and  women  alike  wear 


THE  COMBA'  'ANTS.  [1745-1755. 

bright  and  varied  colors.  Above  are  the  frescoes  of 
Le  Bran;  around  are  walls  of  sculptured  and  inlaid 
marbles,  with  mirrors  that  reflect  the  restless  splendors 
of  the  scene  and  the  blaze  of  chandeliers,  sparkling 
with  crystal  pendants.  Pomp,  i  Agnificence,  profu¬ 
sion  were  a  business  and  a  duty  at  the  Court. 
Versailles  was  a  gulf  into  which  the  labor  of  France 
poured  its  earnings;  and  it  was  never  full. 

Here  the  graces  and  charms  were  a  political  power. 
Women  had  prodigious  influence,  and  the  two  sexes 
were  never  more  alike.  Men  not  only  dressed  in 
'colors,  but  they  wore  patches  and  carried  mu  s. 
The  robust  qualities  of  the  old  nobility  still  lingered 
among  the  exiles  of  the  provinces,  while  at  Court 
they  had  melted  into  refinements  tainted  with  corrup¬ 
tion.  Yet  if  the  butterflies  of  Versailles  had  lost 
virility,  they  had  not  lost  courage.  They  fought  as 
gayly  as  they  danced.  In  the  halls  which  they 
haunted  of  yore,  turned  now  into  a  historical  picture- 
gallery,  one  sees  them  still,  on  the  canvas  of  Lenfant, 
Lepaon,  or  Vernet,  facing  death  with  careless  gal¬ 
lantry,  in  their  small  three-cornered  hats,  powdered 
perukes,  embroidered  coats,  and  lace  ruffles.  Iheir 
valets  served  them  with  ices  in  the  trenches,  under 
the  cannon  of  besieged  towns.  A  troop  of  actors 
formed  part  of  the  army-train  of  Marshal  Saxe.  At 
nioht  there  was  a  comedy,  a  ballet,  or  a  ball,  and  in 
the  morning  a  battle.  Saxe,  however,  himself  a 
sturdy  German,  while  he  recognized  their  fighting 
value,  and  knew  well  how  to  make  the  best  of  it. 


1745-1755.]  FRANCE.  15 

sometimes  complained  that  they  were  volatile,  excit¬ 
able,  and  difficult  to  manage. 

The  weight  of  the  Court,  with  its  pomps,  luxuries, 
and  wars,  bore  on  the  classes  least  able  to  support 
it.  The  poorest  were  taxed  most;  the  richest  not  at^ 
all.  The  nobles,  in  the  main,  were  free  from  imposts. 
The  clergy,  who  had  vast  possessions,  were  wholly 
free,  though  they  consented  to  make  voluntary  gifts 
to  the  Crown ;  and  when,  in  a  time  of  emergency, 
the  minister  Machault  required  them,  in  common 
with  all  others  hitherto  exempt,  to  contribute  a 
twentieth  of  their  revenues  to  the  charges  of  govern¬ 
ment,  they  passionately  refused,  declaring  that  they 
would  obey  God  rather  than  the  King.  The  culti¬ 
vators  of  the  soil  were  ground  to  the  earth  by  a 
threefold  extortion,  —  the  seigniorial  dues,  the  tithes 
of  the  Church,  and  the  multiplied  exactions  of  the 
Crown,  enforced  with  merciless  rigor  by  the  farmers 
of  the  revenue,  who  enriched  themselves  by  wring¬ 
ing  the  peasant  on  the  one  hand,  and  cheating  the 
King  on  the  other.  A  few  great  cities  shone  with  \ 
all  that  is  most  brilliant  in  society,  intellect,  and 
concentred  wealth;  while  the  country  that  paid  tho 
costs  lay  in  ignorance  and  penury,  crushed  and 
despairing.  On  the  inhabitants  of  towns,  too,  the 
demands  of  the  tax-gatherer  were  extreme ;  but  here 
the  immense  vitality  of  the  French  people  bore  up 
the  burden.  While  agriculture  languished,  and 
intolerable  oppression  turned  peasants  into  beggars 
or  desperadoes ;  while  the  clergy  were  sapped  by  cor- 


16  the  COMBATANTS.  [1745-1755. 

ruption,  and  the  nobles  enervated  by  luxury  and 
mined  by  extravagance,  — the  middle  class  was  grow¬ 
ing  in  thrift  and  strength.  Arts  and  commerce  pros- 
^  pered,  and  the  seaports  were  alive  with  foreign  trade. 
Wealth  tended  from  all  sides  towards  the  centre. 
The  King  did  not  love  his  capital;  but  he  and  his 
favorites  amused  themselves  with  adorning  it.  Some 
of  the  chief  embellishments  that  make  Paris  what  it 
is  to-day  —  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  the  Champs 
Flys^es,  and  many  of  the  palaces  of  the  baubourg 
St.  Germain  —  date  from  this  reign. 

One  of  the  vicious  conditions  of  the  time  was  the 
separation  in  sympathies  and  interests  of  the  four 
great  classes  of  the  nation,  —  clergy,  nobles,  burghers, 
and  peasants ;  and  each  of  these,  again,  divided  itself 
into  incoherent  fragments.  France  was  an  aggregate 
of  disjointed  parts,  held  together  by  a  meshwork  of 
arbitrary  power,  itself  touched  with  decay.  A  dis¬ 
astrous  blow  was  struck  at  the  national  welfare  when 
the  government  of  Louis  XV.  revived  the  odious 
persecution  of  the  Huguenots.  The  attempt  to  scour 
heresy  out  of  France  cost  her  the  most  industrious 
and  virtuous  part  of  her  population,  and  robbed  her 
of  those  most  fit  to  resist  the  mocking  scepticism  and 
turbid  passions  that  burst  out  like  a  deluge  with  the 
Revolution. 

Her  manifold  ills  were  summed  up  in  the  King. 
Since  the  Valois,  she  had  had  no  monarch  so  worth¬ 
less.  He  did  not  want  understanding,  still  less  the 
graces  of  person.  In  his  youth  the  people  called  him 


7 


17^5-1755.] 


FRANCE. 


the  “  Well -beloved ;  ”  but  by  the  middle  of  the  eeiij 
tury  they  so  detested  him  that  he  dared  not  pass 
through  Paris,  lest  the  mob  should  execrate  him. 
He  had  not  the  vigor  of  the  true  tyrant;  but  his 
languor,  his  hatred  of  all  effort,  his  profound  selfish-^ 
ness,  his  listless  disregard  of  public  duty,  and  his 
effeminate  libertinism,  mixed  with  superstitious  devo¬ 
tion,  made  him  no  less  a  national  curse.  Louis  XIII. 
was  equally  unfit  to  govern ;  but  he  gave  the  reins  to 
the  Great  Cardinal.  Louis  XV.  abandoned  them  to 
a  frivolous  mistress,  content  that  she  should  rule  on 
condition  of  amusing  him.  It  was  a  hard  task;  yet 
Madame  de  Pompadour  accomplished  it  by  methods 
infamous  to  him  and  to  her.*  She  gained  and  long 
kept  the  power  that  she  coveted :  filled  the  Bastille 
with  her  enemies ;  made  and  unmade  ministers ; 
appointed  and  removed  generals.  Great  questions  of 
policy  were  at  the  mercy  of  her  caprices.  Through 
her  frivolous  vanity,  her  personal  likes  and  dislikes, 
all  the  great  departments  of  government  —  army, 
pavy,  war,  foreign  affairs,  justice,  finance  —  changed 
from  hand  to  hand  incessantly,  and  this  at  a  time  of 
crisis  when  the  kingdom  needed  the  steadiest  and 
surest  guidance.  Few  of  the  officers  of  State,  except, 
perhaps,  D’Argenson,  could  venture  to  disregard 
her.  She  turned  out  Orry,  the  comptroller-general, 
put  her  favorite,  Machault,  into  his  place,  then  made 
him  keeper  of  the  seals,  and  at  last  minister  of 
marine.  The  Marquis  de  Puysieux,  in  the  ministry 
of  foreign  affairs,  and  the  Comte  de  Saint-Florentin, 


TOL.  I. 


THE  COMBATANTS. 


[1745-17*5. 


^iiai'gecl  with  the  affairs  of  the  clergy,  took  their  cue 
from  her.  The  King  stinted  her  in  nothing.  Fust 
and  last,  she  is  reckoned  to  have  cost  him  thirty- 
six  million  francs,  —  answering  now  to  more  than  as 

many  dollars. 

The  prestige  of  the  monarchy  was  declining  with 
the  ideas  that  had  given  it  life  and  strength.  A 
growing  disrespect  for  king,  ministry,  and  clergy 
was  beginning  to  prepare  the  catastrophe  that  was 
still  some  forty  years  in  the  future.  While  the 
valleys  and  low  places  of  the  kingdom  were  dark 
with  misery  and  squalor,  its  heights  were  bright  with 
a  gay  society,  —  elegant,  fastidious,  witty,  —  craving 
the  pleasures  of  the  mind  as  well  as  of  the  senses, 
criticising  everything,  analyzing  everything,  believ¬ 
ing  nothing.  Voltaire  was  in  the  midst  of  it,  hating, 
with  all  his  vehement  soul,  the  abuses  that  swarmed 
about  him,  and  assailing  them  with  the  inexhaustible 
shafts  of  his  restless  and  piercing  intellect.  Montes* 
quieu  was  showing  to  a  despot-ridden  age  the  prin¬ 
ciples  of  political  freedom.  Diderot  and  D’Alembert 
were  beginning  their  revolutionary  Encyclopedia. 
Rqussgau  was  sounding  the  first  notes  of  his  mad 
eloquence,  —  the  wild  revolt  of  a  passionate  and  dis¬ 
eased  genius  against  a  world  of  falsities  and  wrongs. 
The  salons  of  Paris,  cloyed  with  other  pleasures, 
alive  to  all  that  was  racy  and  new,  welcomed  the 
pungent  doctrines,  and  played  with  them  as  children 
play  with  fire,  thinking  no  danger;  as  time  went  on, 
even  embraced  them  in  a  genuine  spirit  of  hope  and 


I 


V/ 


1745-1755.1  THE  STATE  OF  EUROPE 


21 


nursed  soir  e  dubious  claim  born  of  a  marriage,  a  will, 
or  an  ancient  covenant  fished  out  of  the  abyss  of 
time,  and  watched  their  moment  to  make  it  good. 
The  general  opportunity  came  when,  in  1740,  the 
Emperor  Charles  VI.  died  and  bequeathed  his  per- 
sonal  dominions  of  the  House  of  Austria  to  his 
daughter,  Maria  Theresa.  The  chief  Powers  of 
Europe  had  been  pledged  in  advance  to  sustain  the 
will;  and  pending  the  event,  the  veteran  Prince 
Eugene  had  said  that  two  hundred  thousand  soldiers 
would  be  worth  all  their  guaranties  together.  The 
two  hundred  thousand  were  not  there,  and  not  a  sov¬ 
ereign  kept  his  word.  They  flocked  to  share  the 
spoil,  and  parcel  out  the  motley  heritage  of  the 
young  Queen.  Frederic  of  Prussia  led  the  way, 
invaded  her  province  of  Silesia,  seized  it,  and  kept 
it.  The  Elector  of  Bavaria  and  the  King  of  Spain 
claimed  their  share,  and  the  Elector  of  Saxony  and 
the  King  of  Sardinia  prepared  to  follow  the  example. 
France  took  part  with  Bavaria,  and  intrigued  to  set 
V  imperial  crown  on  the  head  of  the  Elector,  think¬ 
ing  to  min  >  er  old  enemy,  the  Hou^e  of  Austria,  and 
rule  Germany  through  an  emperor  too  weak  to  dis¬ 
pense  v  ith  her  support.  England,  jealous  of  her 
designs,  trembling  for  the  balance  of  power,  and 
anxious  for  the  Hanoverian  possessions  of  her  King, 
threw  herself  into  the  strife  on  the  side  of  Austria. 
It  was  now  that,  in  the  Diet  at  Presburg,  the  beauti¬ 
ful  and  distressed  Queen,  her  infant  in  her  arms, 
made  her  memorable  appeal  to  the  wild  chivalry  of 


22  THE  COMBATANTS.  L1745-1755. 

her  Hungarian  nobles;  and,  clashing  their  swords, 
they  shouted  with  one  voice:  “Let  us  uie  for  our 
king,  Maria  Theresa;”  Moriamur  pro  rege  nostro , 
Marfa  Theresia ,  —  one  of  the  most  dramatic  scenes  in 
history;  not  quite  true,  perhaps,  but  near  the  truth. 
Then  came  that  confusion  worse  confounded  called 
the  war  of  the  Austrian  Succession,  with  its  Mollwitz, 
its  Dettingen,  its  Fontenoy,  and  its  Scotch  episode 
of  Culloden.  *  The  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  closed 
the  strife  in  1748.  Europe  had  time  to  breathe;  but 
the  germs  of  discord  remained  alive. 


\ 

A 


THE  AMERICAN  COMBATANTS. 

The  French  claimed  all  America,  from  the  Alle- 
ghanies  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  from  Mexico 
and  Florida  to  the  North  Pole,  except  only  the  ill- 
defined  possessions  of  the  English  on  the  borders  of 
Hudson  Bay;  and  to  these  vast  regions,  with  adja¬ 
cent  islands,  they  gave  the  general  name  of  New 
France.  They  controlled  the  highways  of  the,_rOn- 
tinent,  for  they  held  its  two  great  rivers.  1  irut,  they 
had  seized  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  then  planned  them¬ 
selves  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  Canada  at 
the  north,  and  Louisiana  at  the  south,  were  the  ke\  s 
of  a  boundless  interior,  rich  with  incalculable  possi  ¬ 
bilities.  The  English  colonies,  ranged  abng  the 
Atlantic  coast,  had  no  royal  road  to  the  grea,  inland, 
and  were,  in  a  manner,  shut  between  the  mountains 
and  the  sea.  At  the  middle  of  the  cei  ary  they 


FRENCH  COLONIES. 


\ 

1745-17-. 


] 


numbei^H  in  all,  from  Georgia  to  Maine,  about  eleven 
hundred  and  sixty  thousand  white  inhabitants.  By 
the  censt  of  1754  Canada  had  but  fifty-five  thou¬ 
sand.1  Add  those  of  Louisiana  and  Acadia,  and  the 
whole  white  population  under  the  French  flag  might 
be  something  more  than  eighty  thousand.  Here  is 
an  enormous  disparity ;  and  hence  it  has  been  argued 
that  the  success  of  the  English  colonies  and  the 
failure  of  the  French  was  not  due  to  difference  of 
religious  and  political  systems,  but  simply  to  numeri¬ 
cal  preponderance.  But  this  preponderance  itself  ^ 
grew  out  of  a  difference  of  systems.  We  have  said 
before,  and  it  cannot  be  said  too  often,  that  in  mak¬ 
ing  Canada  a  citadel  of  the  State  religion,  —  a  holy 
of  holies  of  exclusive  Roman  Catholic  orthodoxy,  — 
the  clerical  monitors  of  the  Crown  robbed  their  coun¬ 
try  of  a  transatlantic  empire.  New  France  could 
not  grow  with  a  priest  on  guard  at  the  gate  to  let  in 
none  but  such  as  pleased  him.  One  of  the  ablest  of 
V_y  dlXCl  lian  governors,  La  Galissonikre,  seeing  the 
feebleness  of  the  colony  compared  with  the  vastness 
of  its  claims,  advised  the  King  to  send  ten  thousand 
peasants  to  occupy  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  and  hold 
back  the  British  swarm  that  was  just  then  pushing 
its  advance-guard  over  the  Alleghanies.  It  needed 
no  effort  of  the  King  to  people  his  waste  domain, 
not  with  ten  thousand  peasants,  but  with  twenty 

1  Censuses  of  Canada,  iv.  61.  Rameau  {La  France  aux  Colonies, 
ii.  81)  estimates  the  Canadian  population,  in  1755,  at  sixty-six  thou* 
sand,  besides  voyageurs,  Indian  traders,  etc.  Vaudreuil,  in  1760 
places  it  >j  t  seventy  thousand. 


*t\ 


/ 


24 


THE  COMBATANTS. 


)5  17 


15-1755. 


6(  * 

times  ten  thousand  Frenchmen  of  every  ,  Aion,  — 


the  most  industrious,  most  instructed,  nost  dis- 

<7 


ciplmed  by  adversity  and  capable  of  se'J-rule,  that 


the  country  could  boast.  While  La  Galissoniere  was 
asking  for  colonists,  the  agents  of  the  Crown,  set 
on  by  priestly  fanaticism,  or  designing  selfishness 
masked  with  fanaticism,  were  pour'iig  volleys  of 
musketry  into  Huguenot  congregations,  imprisoning 
for  life  those  innocent  of  all  but  their  faith,  —  the 
men  in  the  galleys,  the  women  in  the  pestiferous 
dungeons  of  Aigues  Mortes,  —  hanging  their  ministers, 
kidnapping  their  children,  and  reviving,  in  short, 
the  dragonnades.  Now,  as  in  the  past  century,  many 
of  the  victims  escaped  to  the  British  colonies,  and 
became  a  part  of  them.  The  Huguenots  would  have 
hailed  as  a  boon  the  permission  to  emigrate  under 
the  fleur-de-lis,  and  build  up  a  Protestant  France  in 
the  valleys  of  the  West.  It  would  have  been  a  bane 
of  absolutism,  but  a  national  glory;  would  have  set. 
bounds  to  English  colonization,  and  changed  thh  face 
of  the  continent.  The  opportunity  was  spArned. 
The  dominant  Church  clung  to  its  policy  of  ru1  le  and 
ruin.  France  built  its  best  colony  on  a  princ  \ple  of 
'  exclusion,  and  failed;  England  reversed  the  s  Aston, 
and  succeeded. 

I  have  shown  elsewhere  the  aspects  of  Canada, 
where  a  rigid  scion  of  the  old  European  tree  lAas  set 
to  grow  in  the  wilderness.  The  military  governor, 
holding  his  miniature  court  on  the  rock  of  (Quebec  : 


l  the  feudal  proprietors,  whose  domains  lii|\ed  the 


1745-1755.] 


CANADA. 


25 


shores  of  Lie  St.  Lawrence;  the  peasant;  the  roving 
bushranger;  the  half- tamed  savage,  with  crucifix  and\ 
scalping-knife;  priests;  friars;  nuns;  and  soldiers, 
mingled  to  form  a  society  the  most  picturesque 
on  the  continent.  What  distinguished  it  from  the 
France  that  produced  it  was  a  total  absence  of  revolt 
against  the  .laws  of  its  being,  —  an  al^ute^cohser-- 
vatism,  an  unquestioning  acceptance  of  Church  and 
King.  The  Canadian,  ignorant  of  everything  but 
what  the  priest  saw  fit  to  teach  him,  had  never  heard 
Voltaire;  and  if  he  had  known  him,  would  have 
thought  him  a  devil.  He  had,  it  is  true,  a  spirit  of 
insubordination  born  of  the  freedom  of  the  forest; 
but  if  his  instincts  rebelled,  his  mind  and  soul  were 
passively  submissive.  The  unchecked  control  of  a 
hierarchy  robbed  him  of  the  independence  of  intellect 
and  character,  without  which,  under  the  conditions 
of  modern  life,  a  people  must  resign  itself  to  a  posi¬ 
tion  of  inferiority.  Yet  Canada  had  a  vigor  of  her 
own.  It  was  not  in  spiritual  deference  only  that  she 
differed  from  the  country  of  her  birth.  Whatever 
she  had  caught  of  its  corruptions,  she  had  caught 
nothing  of  its  effeminacy.  The  mass  of  her  people 
lived  in  a  rude  poverty,  —  not  abject,  like  the  peasant 
of  old  France,  nor  ground  down  by  the  tax-gatherer; 
while  those  of  the  higher  ranks  —  all  more  or  less  en¬ 
gaged  in  pursuits  of  war  or  adventure,  and  inured 
to  rough  journeyings  and  forest  exposures  —  were 
rugged  as  their  climate.  Even  the  French  regular 
troops,  sent  out  to  defend  the  -eeleny,  caught  its 


/ 


-L 


*rv 


\ 


Y 


\ 


\ 


& 


THE  COMBATANTS.  L1745-1755. 


hardy. .spirit,  and  set  an  example  of  stu  >born  fight¬ 
ing  which  their  comrades  at  home  did  not  always 


emulate. 


Canada  lay  ensconced  behind  rocks  and  forests. 
All  along  her  southern  boundaries,  between  her  and 
her  English  foes, .  lay  a  broad  tract  of  wilderness, 
shaggy  with  primeval  woods.  Innumerable  streams 
gurgled  beneath  their  shadows;  innumerable  lakes 
gleamed  in  the  fiery  sunsets ;  innumerable  mountains 
bared  their  rocky  foreheads  to  the  wind.  These 
wastes  were  ranged  by  her  savage  allies,  —  Micmacs, 
Etech&nins,  Abenakis,  Caughnawagas ;  and  no 
enemy  could  steal  upon  her  unawares.  Through  the  „ 
midst  of  them  stretched  Lake  Champlain,  pointing 
straight  to  the  heart  of  the  British  settlements,  —  a 
watery  thoroughfare  of  mutual  attack,  and  the  only 
approach  by  which,  without  a  long  detour  by  wilder¬ 
ness  or  sea,  a  hostile  army  could  come  within  striking 
distance  of  the  colony..  The  French  advanced  post 
>f  Fort  Frederic,  called  Crown  Point  by  the  Englis.i, 
barred  the  narrows  of  the  lake,  which  thence  spread 
northward  to  the  portals  of  Canada  guarded  by  Fort 
St.  Jean.  Southwestward,  some  fourteen  hundred 
k.  miles  as  a  bird  flies,  and  twice  as  far  by  the  prac¬ 
ticable  routes  of  travel,  was  Louisiana,  the  second  of 
the  two  heads  of  New  France;  while  between  lay  the 
realms  of  solitude  where  the  Mississippi  rolled  its 
sullen  tide,  and  the  Ohio  wound  its  belt  of  silver 

through  the  verdant  woodlands. 

*  To  whom  belonged  this  world  of  prairies  and 


\ 


1745-17o- 


NEW  ENGLAND. 


29 


Puritan  gem-V;  but  their  original  character  had  \ 
been  somewhat  modified  by  changed  conditions  of 
life.  A  harsh  and  exactii  g  creed,  with  its  stiff  for-  \ 
malism  and  its  prohibition  c  f  wholesome  recreation ; 
excess  in  the  pursuit  of  gain,  — the  only  resource  left  / 
to  energies  robbed  of  their  natural  play ;  the  struggle 
for  existence  on  a  hard  and  barren  soil ;  and  the  iso¬ 
lation  of  a  narrow  village  life,  —  joined  to  produce, 
in  the  meaner  sort,  qualities  which  were  unpleasant, 
and  sometimes  repulsive.  Puritanism  was  not  an 
unmixed  blessing.  Its  view  of  human  nature  was 
dark,  and  its  attitude  towards  it  one  of  repression. 

It  strove  to  crush  out  not  only  what  is  evil,  but  much 
that  is  innocent  and  salutary.  Human  nature  so 
treated  will  take  its  revenge,  and  for  every  vice  that 
it  loses  find  another  instead.  Nevertheless,  while 
New  England  Puritanism  bore  its  peculiar  crop  0$  ^ 
faults,  it  produced  also  many  good  and  sound  fruits. 

An  uncommon  vigor,  joined  to  the  hardy  virtues  of 
a  masculine  race,  marked  the  New  England  type. 
The  sinews,  it  is  true,  were  hardened  at  the  expense 
of  blood  and  flesh,  —  and  this  literally  as  well  as 
figuratively;  but  the  staple  of  character  was  a  sturdy 
conscientiousness,  an  undespairing  courage,  patriot¬ 
ism,  public  spirit,  sagacity,  and  a  strong  good  sense. 

A  great  change,  bo  ii  for  better  and  for  worse,  has 
since  come  over  it,  due  largely  to  reaction  against  the 
unnatural  rigors  of  the  past.  That  mixture,  which 
is  now  too  common,  of  cool  emotions  with  excitable 
brains,  was  then  rarely  seen.  The  New  England 


THE  COMBATANTS. 


745-1755. 


colonies  abounded  in  high  example  ^  of  public  and 
private  virtue,  though  no*  always  under  the  most 
prepossessing  forms.  Th^y  were  conspicuous,  more¬ 
over,  for  intellectual  acdvity,  and  were  by  no  means 
without  intellects:.-1  eminence.  Massachusetts  had 
produced  at  least  two  men  whose  fame  had  crossed 
,  tiie  sea,  _  Edwards,  who  out  of  the  grim  theology  of 
Calvin  mounted  to  sublime  heights  of  mystical  specu¬ 
lation  ;  and  Franklin,  famous  already  by  his  discov¬ 
eries  in  electricity.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were 
few  genuine  New  Englanders  who,  however  person¬ 
ally  modest,  could  divest  themselves  of  the  notion 
that  they  belonged  to  a  people  in  an  especial  mannei 
the  object  of  divine  approval ;  and  this  self-righteous¬ 
ness,  along  with  certain  other  traits,  failed  to  com¬ 
mend  the  Puritan  colonies  to  the  favor  of  their 
fellows.  Then,  as  now,  New  England  was  best 
known  to  her  neighbors  by  her  worst  side. 

In  one  point,  however,  she  found  general  applause. 
She  was  regarded  as  the  tnost_  military  among  the 
British  colonies.  This  reputation  was  well  founded; 
and  is  easily  explained.  More  than  all  the  rest,  she 
lay  open  to  attack.  The  long  waving  line  of  the 
New  England  border,  with  its  lonely  hamlets  and 
scattered  farms,  extended  from  the  Kennebec  to 
beyond  the  Connecticut,  and  was  everywhere  vulner¬ 
able  to  the  guns  and  tomahawks  of  the  neighboring 
French  and  their  savage  allies.  The  colonies  towards 
the  south  had  thus  far  been  safe  from  danger.  New 


York  alone  was  within  striking  distance  of  the  Cana- 


vc  //, 


1745-1755.  j 


VIRGINIA. 


3r 


dian  war-parties.  That  province  then  consisted  of  a 
line  of  settlements  up  the  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk, 
and  was  little  exposed  to  attack  except  at  its  northern 
end,  which  was  guarded  by  the  fortified  town  of 
Albany,  with  its  outlying  posts,  and  by  the  friendly 
and  warlike  Mohawks,  whose  “castles”  were  close 
at  hand.  Thus  New  England  had  borne  the  heaviest 
brunt  of  the  preceding  wars,  not  only  by  the  forest, 
but  also  by  the  sea ;  for  the  French  of  Acadia  and 
Cape  Breton  confronted  her  coast,  and  she  was  often  at 
blows  with  them.  Fighting  had  been  a  necessity  with 
her,  and  she  had  met  the  emergency  after  a  method 
extremely  defective,  but  the  best  that  circumstances 
would  permit.  Having  no  trained  officers  and  no 
disciplined  soldiers,  and  being  too  poor  to  maintain 
either,  she  borrowed  her  warriors  from  the  workshop 
and  the  plough,  and  officered  them  with  lawyers, 
merchants,  mechanics,  or  farmers.  To  compare  them 
with  good  regular  troops  would  be  folly;  but  they 
did,  on  the  whole,  better  than  could  have  been  ex¬ 
pected,  and  in  the  last  war  achieved  the  brilliant 
success  of  the  capture  of  Louisbourg.  This  exploit, 
due  partly  to  native  hardihood  and  partly  to  good 
luck,  greatly  enhanced  the  military  repute  of  New- 
England,  or  rather  was  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  it. 

The  great  colony  of  Virginia  stood  in  strong  con¬ 
trast  to  New  England.  In  both  the  population  was 
English;  but  the  one  was  Puritan  with  Roundhead 
traditions,  and  the  other,  so  far  as  concerned  its  nfov- 
erning  class,  Anglican,  with  Cavalier  traditions.  In 


THE  COMBATANTS.  [1745-175^1 

the  one,  every  man,  woman,  and  child  could  read 
and  write;  in  the  other,  Sir  William  Berkeley  once 
thanked  God  that  there  were  no  free  schools,  and  no 
prospect  of  any  for  a  century.  The  hope  had  found 
fruition.  The  lower  classes  of  Virginia  were  as  un¬ 
taught  as  the  warmest  friend  of  popular  ignorance 
could  wish.  New  England  had  a  native  literature 
more  than  respectable  under  the  circumstances,  while 
Virginia  had  none ;  numerous  industries,  while 
Virginia  was  all  agriculture,  with  but  a  single  crop ; 
h  homogeneous  society  and  a  democratic  spirit,  while 
[her  rival  was  an  aristocracy.  Virginian  society  was 
distinctly  stratified.  On  the  lowest  level  were  the 
negro  slaves,  nearly  as  numerous  as  all  the  rest  to¬ 
gether;  next,  the  indented  servants  and  the  poor 
whites,  of  low  origin,  good-humored,  but  boisterous, 
and  sometimes  vicious ;  next,  the  small  and  despised 
class  of  tradesmen  and  mechanics;  next,  the  farmeis 
and  lesser  planters,  who  were  mainly  of  good  English 
stock,  and  who  merged  insensibly  into  the  ruling 
class  of  the  great  landowners.  It  was  these  Last  who 
represented  the  colony  and  made  the  laws.  They 
may  be  described  as  English  country  squires  trans¬ 
planted  to  a  warm  climate  and  turned  slave-masters. 
They  sustained  their  position  by  entails,  and  con¬ 
stantly  undermined  it  by  the  reckless  profusion  which 
ruined  them  at  last.  Many  of  them  were  well  born, 
with  an  immense  pride  of  descent,  increased  by  the 
habit  of  domination.  Indolent  and  energetic  by 
turns ;  rich  in  natural  gifts  and  often  poor  in  book- 


1745-1755.] 


PENNSYLVANIA. 


33 


learning,  though  some,  in  the  lack  of  good  teaching 
at  home,  had  been  bred  in  the  English  universities; 
high-spirited,  generous  to  a  fault;  keeping  open  house 
in  their  capacious  mansions,  among  vast  tobacco-fields 
and  toiling  negroes,  and  living  in  a  rude  pomp  where 
the  fashions  of  St.  James  were  somewhat  oddly 
grafted  on  the  roughness  of  the  plantation,  —  what 
they  wanted  in  schooling  was  supplied  by  an  educa¬ 
tion  which  books  alone  would  have  been  impotent  to 
give,  the  education  which  came  with  the  possession 
and  exercise  of  political  power,  and  the  sense  of  a 
position  to  maintain,  joined  to  a  bold  spirit  of*  inde¬ 
pendence  and  a  patriotic  attachment  to  the  Old 
Dominion.  They  were  few  in  number;  they  raced, 


gambled,  drank,  and  swore ;  they  did  everything  that 
in  Puritan  eyes  was  most  reprehensible ;  and  in  the 
j  day  of  need  they  gave  the  United  Colonies  a  body  of 
*  statesmen  and  orators  which  had  no  equal  on  the 
continent.  A  vigorous  aristocracy  favors  the  growth 
of  personal  eminence,  even  in  those  who  are  not  of 
it,  but  only  near  it. 

The  essential  antagonism  of  Virginia  and  New 
England  was  afterwards  to  become,  and  to  remain  for 
a  century,  an  element  of  the  first  influence  in  Ameri¬ 
can  history.  Each  might  have  learned  much  from 
the  other;  but  neither  did  so  till,  at  last,  the  strife 
of  their  contending  principles  shook  the  continent. 
Pennsylvania  differed  widely  from  both.  She  was  a 
conglomerate  of  creeds  and  races,  —  English,  Irish, 
Germans,  Dutch,  and  Swedes;  Quakers,  Lutherans, 

VOL.  I.  — 3 


7 4 


34 


THE  COMBATANTS.  [1745-1755. 


Presbyterians,  Romanists,  Moravians,  and  a  variety 
of  nondescript  sects.  The  Quakers  prevailed  in  the 
eastern  districts;  quiet,  industrious,  virtuous,  and 
serenely  obstinate.  The  Germans  were  strongest 
towards  the  centre  of  the  colony,  and  were  chiefly 
peasants;  successful  farmers,  but  dull,  ignorant,  and 
superstitious.  Towards  the  west  were  the  Irish,  of 
whom  some  were  Celts,  always  quarrelling  with  their 
German  neighbors,  who  detested  them ;  but  the 
greater  part  were  Protestants  of  Scotch  descent,  from 
Ulster;  a  vigorous  border  population.  Virginia  and 
New  England  had  each  a  strong  distinctive  character. 
Pennsylvania,  with  her  heterogeneous  population, 
had  none  but  that  which  she  owed  to  the  sober 
neutral  tints  of  Quaker  existence.  A  more  thriving 
colony  there  was  not  on  the  continent.  Life,  if 
monotonous,  was  smooth  and  contented.  Trade  and 
the  arts  grew.  Philadelphia,  next  to  Boston,  was 
the  largest  town  in  British  America ;  and  was,  more¬ 
over,  the  intellectual  centre  of  the  middle  and  southern 
*  colonies.  Unfortunately,  for  her  credit  in  the  ap¬ 
proaching  war,  the  Quaker  influence  made  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  _j3.Qn-combatant.  Politically,  too,  she  was  an 
anomaly ;  for,  though  utterly  unfeud  al  indisposition 
and  character,  she  was  under  feudal  superiors  in  the 
persons  of  the  representatives  of  William  Penn,  the 
original  grantee. 

NewJAck  had  not  as  yet  reached  the  relative 
prominence  which  her  geographical  position  and 
inherent  strength  afterwards  gave  her.  The  English, 


1745-1755.] 


NEW  YORK. 


35 


joined  to  the  Dutch,  the  original  settlers,  were  the 
dominant  population;  but  a  half-score  of  other  lan¬ 
guages  were  spoken  in  the  province,  the  chief  among 
them  being  that  of  the  Huguenot  French  in  the 
southern  parts,  and  that  of  the  Germans  on  the 
Mohawk.  In  religion,  the  province  was  divided 
between  the  Anglican  Church,  with  government 
support  and  popular  dislike,  and  numerous  dissenting 
sects,  chiefly  Lutherans,  Independents,  Presbyterians, 
and  members  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church.  The 
little  city  of  New  York,  like  its  great  successor,  was 
ithe  most  cosmopolitan  place  on  the  continent,  and 
probably  the  gayest.  It  had,  in  abundance,  balls, 
concerts,  theatricals,  and  evening  clubs,  with  plenti¬ 
ful  dances  and  other  amusements  for  the  poorer 
classes.  Thither  in  the  winter  months  came  the 
great  hereditary  proprietors  on  the  Hudson ;  for  the 
old  Dutch  feudalit}7-  still  held  its  own,  and  the  manors 
of  Van  Rensselaer,  Cortland,  and  Livingston,  with 
their  seigniorial  privileges,  and  the  great  estates  and 
numerous  tenantry  of  the  Schuylers  and  other  leading 
families,  formed  the  basis  of  an  aristocracy,  some  oi 
whose  members  had  done  good  service  to  the  prov¬ 
ince,  and  were  destined  to  do  more.  Pennsylvania! 
was  feudal  in  form,  and  not  in  spirit;  Virginia  ini 
spirit,  and  not  in  form;  New  England  in  neither | 
and  New  York  largely  in  both.  This  social  crystal¬ 
lization  had,  it  is  true,  many  opponents.  In  politics, 
as  in  religion,  there  were  sharp  antagonisms  and  fre¬ 
quent  quarrels.  They  centred  in  the  city;  for  in  the 


30  THE  COMBATANTS.  f^io-1755. 

well-stocked  dwellings  of  the  Dutch  farmers  along 
the  Hudson  there  reigned  a  tranquil  and  prosperous 
routine ;  and  the  Dutch  border  town  of  Allany  had 
not  its  like  in  America  for  unruffled  conservatism  and 
quaint  picturesqueness. 

Of  tlie  other  colonies,  the  briefest  mention  will 
suffice:  New  Jersey,  with  its  wholesome  population 
of  farmers;  tobacco-growing  Maryland,  which,  but 
for  its  proprietary  government  and  numerous  Roman 
Catholics,  might  pass  for  another  Virginia,  inferior  m 
growth,  and  less  decisive  in  features;  Delaware,  a 
modest  appendage  of  Pennsylvania;  wild  and  rude 
North  Carolina ;  and,  farther  on,  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  too  remote  from  the  seat  of  war  to  take  a 
noteworthy  part  in  it.  The  attitude  of  these  various 
colonies  towards  each  other  is  hardly  conceivable  to 
an  American  of  the  present  time.  They  had  no 
political  tie  except  a  common  allegiance  to  the  British 
f  Crown.  Communication  between  them  was  difficult 
and  slow,  by  rough  roads  traced  often  through 
primeval  forests.  Between  some  of  them  there  was 
less  of  sympathy  than  of  jealousy  kindled  by  con¬ 
flicting  interests  or  perpetual  disputes  concerning 
boundaries.  The  patriotism  of  the  colonist  was 
bounded  by  the  lines  of  his  government,  except  in 
the  compact  and  kindred  colonies  of  New  England, 
which  were  socially  united,  though  politically  dis¬ 
tinct.  The  country  of  the  New  Yorker  was  New 
York,  and  the  country  of  the  Virginian  was  Virginia. 
The  New  JDngland  colonies  had  once  confederated; 


1745-1755.]  COLmNTAL  T1..  30RL'.  37 

but,  kindred  as  they  were,  they  had  long  ago  dropped 
apart.  William  Penn  proposed  a  plan  of  colonial 
union  wholly  fruitless.  James  II.  tried  to  unite  all 
the  northern  colonies  under  one  government;  but  the 
attempt  came  to  naught.  Each  stood  aloof,  jealously 
independent.  At  rare  intervals,  under  the  pressure 
of  an  emergency,  some  of  them  would  try  to  act  in 
concert;  and,  except  in  New  England,  the  results 
had  been  most  discouraging.  Nor  was  it  this  segre¬ 
gation  only  that  unfitted  them  for  war.  They  were 
all  subject  to  popular  legislatures,  through  whom 
alone  money  and  men  could  be  raised;  and  these 
elective  bodies  were  sometimes  factious  and  selfish, 
and  not  always  either  far-sighted  or  reasonable. 
Moreover,  they  were  in  a  state  of  ceaseless  friction 
with  their  governors,  who  represented  the  King,  or, 
what  was  worse,  the  feudal  proprietary.  These  dis¬ 
putes,  though  varying  in  intensity,  were  found  every¬ 
where  except  in  the  two  small  colonies  which  chose 
their  own  governors ;  and  they  were  premonitions  of 
the  movement  towards  independence  which  ended  in 
the  war  of  Revolution.  The  occasion  of  difference 
mattered  little.  Active  or  latent,  the  quarrel  was 
always  present.  In  New  York  it  turned  on  a  ques¬ 
tion  of  the  governor’s  salary;  in  Pennsylvania  on  the 
taxation  of  the  proprietary  estates;  in  Virginia  on  a 
fee  exacted  for  the  issue  of  land  patents.  It  was 
sure  to  arise  whenever  some  public  crisis  gave  the 
representatives  of  the  people  an  opportunity  of  extort¬ 
ing  concessions  from  the  representative  of  the  Crown, 


-7-r 


t 


T  T  r*  y'T 

* 


8£ 


THE  COMBATANTS. 


,1745-1755. 


or  gave  the  representative  of  the  Crown  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  gain  a  point  for  prerogative.  That  is  to 
say,  the  time  when  action  was  most  needed  was  the 

time  chosen  for  obstructing  it. 

In  Canada  there  was  no  popular  legislature  to 
embarrass  the  central  power.  The  people,  like  an 
army,  obeyed  the  word  of  command,  —  a  military 

advantage  beyond  all  price. 

Divided  in  government;  divided  in  origin,  feel- 
ings,  and  principles;  jealous  of  each  other,  jealous  of 
the  Crown;  the  people  at  war  with  the  executive, 
and,  by  the  fermentation  of  internal  politics,  blinded 
to  an  outward  danger  that  seemed  remote  and  vague, 
_  such  were  the  conditions  under  which  the  British 
colonies  drifted  into  a  war  that  was  to  decide  the  fate 
of  the  continent. 

This  war  was  the  strife  of  a  united  and  concentred 
few  against  a  divided  and  discordant  many.  It  was 
the  strife,  too,  of  the  past  against  the  future ;  of  the 
old  against  the  new;  of  moral  and  intellectual  torpor 
against  moral  and  intellectual  life ;  of  barren  absolut¬ 
ism  against  a  liberty,  crude,  incoherent,  and  chaotic, 
yet  full  of  prolific  vitality. 


1  S 


L 


$ 


1 


>  f 


CHAPTER  II. 


1749-1752.  ,  „ 

4  t 

CELORON  DE  BIENVILLE. 


La  Galissoniere.  —  English  Encroachment. —Mission  of  Celo* 
ron. —  The  Great  West:  its  European  Claimants;  its 
•Indian  Population.  English  Fur-Traders.  —  Celoron  on 
the  Alleghany:  his  Reception;  his  Difficulties. — Des¬ 
cent  of  the  Ohio. — Covert  Hostility.  —  Ascent  of  the 

Miami.  La  Demoiselle.  —  Dark  Prospects  for  France. _ 

Christopher  Gist,  George  Crogiian  :  their  Western  Mission* 

PlCKAWILLANY.  ENGLISH  ASCENDENCY.  —  ENGLISH  DISSEN¬ 
SION  and  Rivalry.  —  The  Key  of  the  Great  West. 

When  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  was  signed, 
the  Marquis  de  la  Galissoniere  ruled  over  Canada. 
Like  all  the  later  Canadian  governors,  he  was  a  naval 
officer;  and,  a  few  years  after,  he  made  himself 
famous  by  a  victory,  near  Minorca,  over  the  English 
admiral  Byng,  —  an  achievement  now  remembered 
chiefly  by  the  fate  of  the  defeated  commander,  judi¬ 
cially  murdered  as  the  scapegoat  of  an  imbecile 
ministry.  La  Galissoniere  was  a  humpback;  but  his 
deformed  person  was  animated  by  a  bold  spirit  and  a 
strong  and  penetrating  intellect.  He  was  the  chief 
representative  of  the  American  policy  of  France.-i^He 
felt  that,  cost  what  it  might,  she  must  hold  fast  to 
Canada,  and  link  her  to  Louisiana  by  chains  of  forts 


40  CLLORON  DE  BIENVILLE.  [1749-1752. 

strong  enough  to  hold  back  the  British  colonies,  and 
cramp  their  growth  by  confinement  within  narrow 
limits;  while  French  settlers,  sent  from  the  mother- 
country,  should  spread  and  multiply  in  the  broad 
valleys  of  the  interior.  It  is  true,  he  said,  that 
Canada  and  her  dependencies  have  always  been  a 
burden;  but  they  are  necessary  as  a  barrier  against 
English  ambition ;  and  to  abandon  them  is  to  abandon 
ourselves;  for  if  we  suffer  our  enemies  to  become 
masters  in  America,  their  trade  and  naval  power  will 
grow  to  vast  proportions,  and  they  will  draw  from 
their  colonies  a  wealth  that  will  make  them  pre- 
ponderant  in  Europe.1 

The  treaty  had  done  nothing  to  settle  the  vexed 
question  of  boundaries  between  France  and  her  rival. 
It  had  but  staved  off  the  inevitable  conflict.  Mean¬ 
while,  the  English  traders  were  crossing  the  moun¬ 
tains  from  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  poaching  on 
the  domain  which  France  claimed  as  hers,  ruining 
the  French  fur-trade,  seducing  the  Indian  allies  of 
Canada,  and  stirring  them  up  against  her.  Worse 
still,  English  land  ‘speculators  were  beginning  to 
follow.  Something  must  be  done,  and  that  promptly, 
to  drive  back  the  intruders,  and  vindicate  French 
rights  in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  To  this  end  the 
J  governor  sent  C^loron  de  Bienville  thither  in  the 
summer  of  1T49. 

He  was  a  chevalier  de  St.  Louis  and  a  captain  in 

1  La  Galissoniere,  Memoir e  sur  les  Colonies  de  la  France  dans 
V Amdrique  septentrionale. 


1749-1752.]  ERRAND  OF  C^LORON.  41 

the  colony  troops.  Under  him  went  fourteen  officers 
and  cadets,  twenty^  soldiers,  a  hundred  and  eighty 
Canadians,  and  a  hand  of  Indians,  all  in  twenty-three 
birch-bark  canoes.  They  left  ^a  Chine  on  the  fif¬ 
teenth  of  June,  and  pushed  up  the  rapids  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  losing  a  man  and  damaging  several  canoes 
on  the  way.  Ten  days  brought  them  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Oswegatchie,  where  Ogdensburg  now  stands. 
Here  they  found  a  Sulpitian  priest,  Abbd  Piquet, 
busy  at  building  a  fort,  and  lodging  for  the  present 
under  a  shed  of  bark  like  an  Indian.  This  enterpris¬ 
ing  father,  ostensibly  a  missionary,  was  in  reality  a 
zealous  political  agent,  bent  on  winning  over  the  red 
allies  of  the  English,  retrieving  French  prestige,  and 
restoring  French  trade.  Thus  far  he  had  attracted 
but  two  Iroquois  to  his  new  establis]*ment;  and  these 
he  lent  to  Cdloron. 

Reaching  Lake  Ontario,  the  party  stopped  for  a 
time  at  the  French  fort  of  Frontenac,  but  avoided 
the  rival  English  post  of  Oswego,  on  the  'southern 
shore,  where  a  trade  in  beaver-skins,  disastrous  to 
French  interests,  was  carried  on,  and  whither  many 
tribes,  once  faithful  to  Canada,  now  made  resort. 
On  the  sixth  of  July  C^loron  reached  Niagara.  This, 
the  most  important  pass  of  all  the  western  wilderness, 
was  guarded  by  a  small  fort  of  palisades  on  the  point 
where  the  river  joins  the  lake.  Thence,  the  party 
carried  their  canoes  over  the  portage  road  by  the 
cataract,  and  launched  them  upon  Lake  Erie.  On 
the  fifteenth  they  landed  on  the  lonely  shore  where 


\ 


42  C^LORON  DE  BIENVILLE.  [1749-1752. 

the  town  of  Portland  now  stands ;  and  for  the  next 
seven  days  were  busied  in  shouldering  canoes  and 
baggage  up  and  down  the  steep  hills,  through  the 
dense  forest  of  beech,  oak,  ash,  and  elm,  to  the 
waters  of  Chautauqua  Lake,  eight  or  nine  miles  dis¬ 
tant.  Here  they  embarked  again,  steering  southward 
over  the  sunny  waters,  in  the  stillness  and  solitude  of 
the  leafy  hills,  till  they  came  to  the  outlet,  and  glided 
down  the  peaceful  current  in  the  shade  of  the  tall 
forests  that  overarched  it.  This  prosperity  was  short. 
The  stream  was  low,  in  spite  of  heavy  rains  that 
had  drenched  them  on  the  carrying  place.  Father 
Bonnecamp,  chaplain  of  the  expedition,  wrote  in  his 
Journal :  “  In  some  plac,es  —  and  they  were  but  too 
frequent  —  the  water  was  only  two  or  three  inches 
deep;  and  we  were  reduced  to  the  sad  necessity  of 
dragging  our  canoes  over  the  sharp  pebbles,  which, 
with  all  our  care  and  precaution,  stripped  off  large 
slivers  of  the  bark.  At  last,  tired  and  worn,  and 
almost  in  despair  of  ever  seeing  La  Belle  Riviere,  we 
entered  it  at  noon  of  the  29th.”  The  part  of  the 
Ohio,  or  “ La  Belle  Riviere,”  which  they  had  thus 
happily  reached,  is  now  called  the  Alleghany.  The 
Great  West  lay  outspread  before  them,  a  realm  of 
wild  and  waste  fertility. 

French  America  had  two  heads,  — one  among  the 
snows  of  Canada,  and  one  among  the  canebrakes  of 
Louisiana ;  one  communicating  with  the  world  through 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  other  through  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  These  vital  points  were  feebly 


1749-1752.]  INDIANS  OF  THE  WEST. 

connected  by  a  chain  of  military  posts,  — slend^B 
and  o  .ien  interrupted,  —  circling  through  the  wilder 
ness  nearly  three  thousand  miles.  Midway  between 
Canada  and  Louisiana  lay  the  valley  of  the  Ohio. 
If  the  English  should  seize  it,  they  would  sever  the' 
chain  of  posts,  and  cut  French  America  asunder.  If 
the  I  rench  held  it,  and  intrenched  themselves  well 
along  its  eastern  limits,  they  would  shut  their  rivals 
between  the  Alleghanies  and  the  sea,  control  all  the 
tiibes  of  the  West,  and  turn  them,  in  case  of  war, 
against  the  English  borders,  —  a  frightful  and  insup¬ 
portable  scourge. 

The  Indian  population  of  the  Ohio  and  its  northern 
tributaries  was  relatively  considerable.  The  upper 
or  eastern  half  of  the  valley  was  occupied  by  mingled 
hordes  of  Delawares,  Shawanoes,  Wyandots,  and 
Iroquois,  or  Indians  of  the  Five  Nations,  who  had 
migrated  thither  from  their  ancestral  abodes  within 
the  present  limits  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  who 
were  called  Mingoes  by  the  English  traders.  Along 
with  them  were  a  few  wandering  Abenakis,  Nipissings, 
and  Ottawas.  Farther  west,  on  the  waters  of  the 
Miami,  the  W abash,  and  other  neighboring-  streams, 
was  the  seat  of  a  confederacy  formed  of  the  various 
bands  of  the  Miamis  and  their  kindred  or  affiliated 
tribes.  Still  farther  west,  towards  the  Mississippi, 
were  the  remnants  of  the  Illinois. 

France  had  done  but  little  to  make  good  her  claims 
lo  this  grand  domain.  East  of  the  Miami  she  had 
no  military  post  whatever.  Westward,  on  the 


CfiLORON  DE  BIENVILLE.  ['749-1752. 


flaumee,  there  was  a  small  wooden  fort,  another  on 
lLhe  St.  Joseph,  and  two  on  the  Wabash.  On  the 
meadows  of  the  Mississippi,  in  the  Illinois  coi'utry, 
stood  Fort  Chartres,  —  a  much  stronger  work,  and 
one  of  the  chief  links  of  the  chain  that  connected 
Quebec  with  New  Orleans.  Its  four  stone  bastions 
were  impregnable  to  musketry;  and,  here  in  the 
depths  of  the  wilderness,  there  was  no  fear  that 
cannon  would  be  brought  against  it.  It  was  the 
centre  and  citadel  of  a  curious  little  forest  settlement, 
the  only  vestige  of  civilization  through  all  this 
region.  At  Kaskaskia,  extended  along  the  borders 
of  the  stream,  were  seventy  or  eighty  French  houses; 
thirty  or  forty  at  Cahokia,  opposite  the  site  of  St. 
Louis ;  and  a  few  more  at  the  intervening  hamlets  of 
St.  Philippe  and  Prairie  a  la  Roche,  —  a  picturesque 
but  thriftless  population,  mixed  with  Indians,  totally 
ignorant,  busied  partly  with  the  fur-trade,  and  partly 
with  the  raising  of  corn  for  the  market  of  New 
Orleans.  They  communicated  with  it  by  means  of  a 
sort  of  row  galley,  of  eighteen  or  twenty  oars,  which 
made  the  voyage  twice  a  year,  and  usually  spent  ten 
weeks  on  the  return  up  the  river.1 
-v  The  Pope  and  the  Bourbons  had  claimed  this  wil¬ 
derness  for  seventy  years,  and  had  done  scarcely 
more  for  it  than  the  Indians,  its  natural  owners./ 

1  Gordon,  Journal,  1766,  appended  to  Pownall,  Topographical 
Description .  In  the  Depot  des  Cartes  de  la  Marine  at  Paris,  C. 
4,040,  are  two  curious  maps  of  the  Illinois  Colony,  made  a  little 
after  the  middle  of  the  century.  In  1753  the  Marquis  Duquesnt 
denounced  the  colonists  as  debauched  and  lazy. 


1749-1752.]  ENGLISH  FUR-TRADERS. 


45 


Of  the  western  tribes,  even  of  those  living  at  the 
French  posts,  the  Hurons  or  Wyandots  alone  were 
Christian.1  The  devoted  zeal  of  the  early  mission¬ 
aries  and  the  politic  efforts  of  their  successors  had 
failed  alike.  The  savages  of  the  Ohio  and  the 
Mississippi,  instead  of  being  tied  to  France  by  the 
mild  bonds  of  the  faith,  were  now  in  a  state  which 
the  French  called  defection  or  revolt;  that  is,  they 
received  and  welcomed  the  English  traders. 

These  traders  came  in  part  from  Virginia,  but 
chiefly  from  Pennsylvania.  Dinwiddie,  governor  of 
Virginia,  says  of  them:  “They  appear  to  me  to  be  in 
general  a  set  of  abandoned  wretches;  ”  and  Hamilton, 
governor  of  Pennsylvania,  replies:  “I  concur  with 
you  in  opinion  that  they  are  a  very  licentious 
people.”2  Indian  traders,  of  whatever  nation,  are 
,  rarely  models  of  virtue;  and  these,  without  doubt, 
were  rough  and  lawless  men,  with  abundant  black¬ 
guardism  and  few  scruples.  Not  all  of  them,  how¬ 
ever,  are  to  be  thus  qualified.  Some  were  of  a  better 
stamp;  among  whom  were  Christopher  Gist,  William 
Trent,  and  George  Croghan.  These  and  other  chief 
traders  hired  men  on  the  frontiers,  crossed  the  Alle- 
ghanies  with  goods  packed  on  the  backs  of  horses, 
descended  into  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  and  journeyed 

1  “  De  toutes  les  nations  domiciliees  dans  le9  postes  des  pays 
d’en  haut,  il  n’y  a  que  les  hurons  du  detroit  qui  aient  embrasse 
la  Religion  chretienne.”  —  M€moire  du  Roy  pour  servir  d’ instruction  a u 
Sr  Marquis  de  Lajonquiere. 

2  Dinwiddie  to  Hamilton ,  21  May,  1753.  Hamilton  to  Dinwiddie,— 
May,  1753. 


46 


J  X 

[ 

CLLORON  DE  BIENVILLE.  [1749. 

from  stream  to  stream  and  village  to  village  along 
the  Indian  trails,  with  which  all  this  wilderness  was 
seamed,  and  which  the  traders  widened  to  make  them 
practicable.  More  rarely,  they  carried  their  goods 
on  horses  to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Ohio,  and  em¬ 
barked  them  in  large  wooden  canoes,  in  which  they 
descended  the  main  river,  and  ascended  such  of  its 
numerous  tributaries  as  were  navigable.  They  were 
bold  and  enterprising ;  and  French  writers,  with 
alarm  and  indignation,  declare  that  some  of  them  had 
crossed  the  Mississippi  and  traded  with  the  distant 
Osages.  It  is  said  that  about  three  hundred  of  them 
came  over  the  mountains  every  year. 

On  reaching  the  Alleghany,  CMoron  de  Bienville 
entered  upon  the  work  assigned  him,  and  began  by 
taking  possession  of  the  country.  The  men  were 
drawn  up  in  order ;  Louis  XV .  was  proclaimed  lord 
of  all  that  region,  the  arms  of  France,  stamped  on  a 
sheet  of  tin,  were  nailed  to  a  tree,  a  plate  of  lead  was 
buried  at  its  foot,  and  the  notary  of  the  expedition 
drew  up  a  formal  act  of  the  whole  proceeding.  The 
leaden  plate  was  inscribed  as  follows:  “Year  1749, 
in  the  reign  of  Louis  Fifteenth,  King  of  France. 
We,  Cdloron,  commanding  the  detachment  sent  by 
the  Marquis  de  la  Galissoni£re,  commander-general 
of  New  France,  to  restore  tranquillity  in  certain 
villages  of  these  cantons,  have  buried  this  plate  at 
the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Kanaouagon 
^Conewcmgo\,  this  29th  July,  as  a  token  of  renewal 
of  possession  heretofore  taken  of  the  aforesaid  River 


N 

/ 


L  '» 


1749.] 


POSSESSION  OF  THE  OHIO. 


47 


Ohio,  of  ill  streams  that  fall  into  it,  and  all  lands  on 
both  sides  to  the  source  of  the  aforesaid  streams,  as 
the  preceding  Kings  of  France  have  enjoyed  or  ought 
to  have  enjoyed  it,  and  which  they  have  upheld  by 
force  of  arms  and  by  treaties,  notably  by  those  of 
Ryswick,  Utrecht*-  and  Aix-la-Ghapelle.” 

This  done,  the  party  proceeded  on  its  way,  mov¬ 
ing  downward  with  the  current,  and  passing  from 
time  to  time  rough  openings  in  the  forest,  with 
clusters  of  Indian  wigwams,  the  inmates  of  which 
showed  a  strong  inclination  to  run  off  at  their 
approach.  To  prevent  this,  Chabert  de  Joncaire  was 
sent  in  advance,  as  a  messenger  of  peace.  He  was 
himself  half  Indian,  being  the  son  of  a  French  officer 
and  a  Seneca  squaw,  speaking  fluently  his  maternal 
tongue,  and,  like  his  father,  holding  an  important 
place  in  all  dealings  between  the  French  and  the 
tribes  who  spoke  dialects  of  the  Iroquois.  On  this 
occasion  his  success  was  not  complete.  It  needed 
all  his  art  to  prevent  the  alarmed  savages  from  tak¬ 
ing  to  the  woods.  Sometimes,  however,  Cdloron 
succeeded  in  gaining  an  audience;  and  at  a  village 
of  Senecas  called  La  Paille  Coupde  he  read  them  a 
message  from  La  Galissoniere  couched  id  terms  suffi¬ 
ciently  imperative :  “  My  children,  since  I  was  at  war 
with  the  English,  I  have  learned  that  they  have 
seduced  you ;  and  not  content  with  corrupting  your 
hearts,  have  taken  advantage  of  my  absence  to  invade 
lands  which  are  not  theirs,  but  mine ;  and  therefore 
I  have  resolved  to  send  you  Monsieur  de  Cdloron  to 


48 


C^LOBON  DE  BIENVILLE. 


[1749. 


tell  yon  my  intentions,  which  are  that  I  will  not 
endure  the  English  on  my  land.  Listen  t  me,  chil¬ 
dren;  mark  well  the  word  that  I  send  you;  fellow 
my  advice,  and  the  sky  will  always  be  calm  and  clear 
over  your  villages.  I  expect  froip  you  an  ansver 
worthy  of  true  children.”  And  he  urged  them  to 
stop  all  trade  with  the  intruders,  and  send  them  back 
to  whence  they  came.  They  promised  compliance; 
“and,”  says  the  chaplain,  Bonnecamp,  “we  should  all 
have  been  satisfied  if  we  had  thought  them  sincere ;  but 
nobody  doubted  that  fear  had  extorted  their  answer.” 

Four  leagues  below  French  Creek,  by  a  rock 
scratched  with  Indian  hieroglyphics,  they  buried 
another  leaden  plate.  Three  days  after,  they  reached 
the  Delaware  village  of  Attiqud,  at  the  site  of 
Kittanning,  whose  twenty-two  wigwams  were  all 
empty,  the  owners  having  fled.  A  little  farther  on, 
at  an  old  abandoned  village  of  Shawanoes,  they  found 
six  English  traders,  whom  they  warned  to  begone, 
and  return  no  more  at  their  peril.  Being  helpless  to 
resist,  the  traders  pretended  obedience;  and  Cdloron 
charged  them  with  a  letter  to  the  governor  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  in  which  he  declared  that  he  was  “  greatly 
surprised”  to  find  Englishmen  trespassing  on  the 
domain  of  France.  “I  know,”  concluded  the  letter, 
“that  our  Commandant-General  would  be  very  sorry 
to  be  forced  to  use  violence;  but  his  orders  are  pre¬ 
cise,  to  leave  no  foreign  traders  within  the  limits  of 
his  government.”  1 

1  Celoron,  Journal.  Compare  the  letter  as  translated  in  N.  Y. 
Col.  Docs.,  yi.  532  ;  also  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  v.  425. 


1749.]  LOGSTOWN.  49 

On  the  next  y  tpey  reached  a  village  of  Iroquois 
under  a  femahq^ef?  called  Queen  Alequippa  by 
the  English,  to  pom  she  Was  devoted.  Both  queen 
and  subjects  ha  qeq .  put  among  the  deserted  wig¬ 
wams  were  sixmore  Englishmen,  whom  C^loron 
warned  off  likeqe  others,  and  who,  like  them,  pre¬ 
tended  to  obey,  ^t  a  neighboring  town  they  found 
only  two  wither^  ancients,  male  and  female,  whose 
united  ages,  incpe  judgment  of  the  chaplain,  were 
full  two  centres.  They  passed  the  site  of  the 
future  Pittsbi^g.  anq  some  seventeen  miles  below 
approached  C'-ningU6,  called  Logstown  by  the  Eng¬ 
lish,  one  o£tpe  cpief  places  on  the  river.1  Both 
English  aij'  Erench  flags  were  flying  over  the  town, 
and  the  inhabitants,  lining  the  shore,  greeted  their 
visitors  witb  a  salute  0f  musketry,  —  not  wholly  wel¬ 
come.  !s  the  guns  were  charged  with  ball.  Cfiloron 
threatened  to  fire  on  them  if  they  did  not  cease.  The 
Frenc\  climbed  the  steep  bank,  and  encamped  on  the 
Pla%  ap0ve,  betwixt  the  forest  and  the  village, 
wJjkh  consisted  of  some  fifty  cabins  and  wigwams, 
/ouped  in  picturesque  squalor,  and  tenanted  by  a 
fixed  population,  chiefly  of  Delawares,  Shawanoes, 
nd  Mingoes.  Here,  too,  were  gathered  many  fugi- 
ives  from  the  deserted  towns  above.  Cfiloron  feare 
1  nio-ht  attack.  The  camp  was  encircled  by  a  ring 
,f  sentries;  the  officers  walked  the  rounds  till  morn¬ 
ing;  a  part  of  the  men  were  kept  under  arms,  an 

1  There  was  another  Chiningue',  the  Shenango  of  the  English,  on 

[he  Alleghany. 

VOL.  I. — 4 


CELORON  DE  BIENVIL 


the  rest  ordered  to  sleep  in  their  clcl 
discovered  through  some  women  of  l| 
that  an  attack  was  intended.  WhatJ 
may  have  been,  the  precautions  of  the] 
it;  and  instead  of  a  battle,  there  | 

Cdoron  delivered  to  the  assembled  c] 
from  the  governor  more  conciliatory  tl 
“  Through  the  love  I  bear  you,  my  I 
you  Monsieur  de  Cdoron  to  open  yc| 
designs  of  the  English  against  you’ 
establishments  they  mean  to  make,  an 
are  certainly  ignorant,  tend  to  your 
They  hide  from  you  their  plans,  whicM 
here  and  drive  you  away,  if  I  let  them,  ^ 
father  who  tenderly  loves  his  children,  an^, 
far  away  from  them  bears  them  always  in  hJl 
I  must  warn  you  of  the  danger  that  threaten 
The  English  intend  to  rob  you  of  your  countr 
that  they  may  succeed,  they  beg: 
your  minds.  As  they  mean  to  seize  the  Ohio, 
belongs  to  me,  I  send  to  warn  them  to  retire.”  \ 
The  reply  of  the  chiefs,  though  sufficiently  humb 
was  not  all  that  could  be  wished.  They  begged  tl 
the  intruders  might  stav  a  little  longer,  since  t 


was  a 


corr 


were 


of  the  inscription  on  one  of  the  lead  plates 
buried  by  Ciloron  de  Bienville . 


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1749.] 


C^LOROK  BURIES  PLATES. 


51 


in  the  place.  CMoron  warned  them  off.  “They 
agreed,”  says  the  chaplain,  “  to  all  that  was  demanded, 
well  resolved,  no  doubt,  to  do  the  contrary  as  soon 
as  our  backs  were  turned.” 

Having  distributed  gifts  among  the  Indians,  the 
French  proceeded  on  their  way,  and  at  or  near  the 
mouth  of  Wheeling  Creek  buried  another  plate  of 
lead.  They  repeated  the  same  ceremony  at  the  • 
mouth  of  the  Muskingum.  Here,  half  a  century 
later,  when  this  region  belonged  to  the  United  States, 
a  party  of  boys,  bathing  in  the  river,  saw  the  plate 
protruding  from  the  bank  where  the  freshets  had  laid 
it  bare,  knocked  it  down  with  a  long  stick,  melted 
half  of  it  into  bullets,  and  gave  what  remained  to  a 
neighbor  from  Marietta,  who,  hearing  of  this  myste¬ 
rious  relic,  inscribed  in  an  unknown  tongue,  came  to 
rescue  it  from  their  hands.1  It  is  now  in  the 
cabinet  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society.2  On 
the  eighteenth  of  August,  CMoron  buried  yet  an¬ 
other  plate,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Kanawha. 
This,  too,  in  the  course  of  a  century,  was  unearthed 
by  the  floods,  and  was  found  in  1846  by  a  boy  at 
piay,  by  the  edge  of  the  water.3  The  inscriptions 
on  all  these  plates  were  much  alike,  with  variations 
of  date  and  place. 

1  0.  H.  Marshall,  in  Magazine  of  American  History ,  March,  1878. 

2  For  papers  relating  to  it,  see  Trans.  Amer.  Antiq.  Soc.,  ii. 

8  For  a  facsimile  of  the  inscription  on  this  plate,  see  Olden 
Time,  i.  288.  Celoron  calls  the  Kanawha,  Chinodahichetha.  The 
inscriptions  as  given  in  his  Journal  correspond  with  those  on  the 
plates  discovered. 


/ 


V. 


I 


52  CELORON  DE  BIENVILLE.  [1749. 

The  weather  was  by  turns  rainy  and  hot ;  and  the 
men,  tired  and  famished,  were  fast  falling  ill.  On 
the  twenty-second  they  approached  Scioto,  called  by 
the  French  St.  Yotoc,  or  Sinioto,  a  large  Shawanoe 
town  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  which  bears  the  same 
name.  Greatly  doubting  what  welcome  awaited 
them,  they  filled  their  powder-horns  and  prepared  for 
the  worst.  Joncaire  was  sent  forward  to  propitiate 
the  inhabitants;  but  they  shot  bullets  through  the 
flag  that  he  carried,  and  surrounded  him,  yelling  and 
brandishing  their  knives.  Some  were  for  killing  him 
at  once;  others  for  burning  him  alive.  The  inter¬ 
position  of  a  friendly  Iroquois  saved  him;  and  at 
length  they  let  him  go.  C&oron  was  very  uneasy  at 
the  reception  of  his  messenger.  “I  knew,”  he 
writes,  “the  weakness  of  my  party,  two-thirds  of 
which  were  young  men  who  had  never  left  home 
before,  and  would  all  have  run  at  the  sight  of  ten 
Indians.  Still,  there  was  nothing  for  me  but  to  keep 
on;  for  I  was  short  of  provisions,  my  canoes  were 
badly  damaged,  and  I  had  no  pitch  or  bark  to  mend 
them.  So  I  embarked  again,  ready  for  whatever 
might  happen.  I  had  good  officers,  and  about,  fifty 

men  who  could  be  trusted. 

As  they  neared  the  town,  the  Indians  swarmed  to 
the  shore,  and  began  the  usual  salute  of  musketry. 
“ They  fired,”  says  C^loron,  “ full  a  thousand  shots; 
for  the  English  give  them  powder  for  nothing.”  He 
prudently  pitched  his  camp  on  the  farther  side  of  the 
river,  posted  guards,  and  kept  close  watch.  Each 


\ 


I 


1749.]  ASCENT  OF  THE  MIAMI.  5S 

party  distrusted  and  feared  the  other.  At  length, 
after  much  ado,  many  debates,  and  some  threatening 
movements  on  the  part  of  the  alarmed  and  excited 
Indians,  a  council  took  place  at  the  tent  of  the 
French  commander;  the  chiefs  apologized  for  the 
rough  treatment  of  Joncaire,  and  Cdloron  replied 
with  a  lebuke,  which  would  doubtless  have  been 
less  mild,  had  he  felt  himself  stronger.  He  gave 
them  also  a  message  from  the  governor,  modified, 
apparently,  to  suit  the  circumstances ;  for  while 
warning  them  of  the  wiles  of  the  English,  it  gave 
no  hint  that  the  King  of  France  claimed  mastery  of 
their  lands.  Their  answer  was  vague  and  unsat¬ 
isfactory.  It  was  plain  that  they  were  bound  to  the 
enemy  by  interest,  if  not  by  sympathy.  A  party 
of  English  traders  were  living  in  the  place;  and 
Cdloron  summoned  them  to  withdraw,  on  pain  of 
what  might  ensue.  “My  instructions,”  he  says, 
“enjoined  me  to  do  this,  and  even  to  pillage  the 
English;  but  I  was  not  strong  enough;  and  as 
these  traders  were  established  in  the  village  and 
well  supported  by  the  Indians,  the  attempt  would 
have  failed,  and  put  the  French  to  shame.”  The 
assembled  chiefs  having  been  regaled  with  a  cup 
of  brandy  each,  the  only  part  of  the  proceeding 
which  seemed  to  please  them,  —  Cdloron  re-embarked, 
and  continued  his  voyage. 

On  the  thirtieth  they  reached  the  Great  Miami, 
called  by  the  French,  Kivi&re  a  la  Koche ;  and  here 
C^loron  buried  the  last  of  his  leaden  plates.  They 


54 


CELORON  DE  BIENVILLE. 


[1749. 


now  bade  farewell  to  the  Ohio,  or,  in  the  words  of 
the  chaplain,  to  “  La  Belle  Riviere,  —  that  river  so 
little  known  to  the  French,  and  unfortunately  too 
well  known  to  the  English.”  He  speaks  of  the  multi- 
a  tude  of  Indian  villages  on  its  shores,  and  still  more 
on  its  northern  branches.  u  Each,  great  or  small, 
has  one  or  more  English  traders,  and  each  of  these 
has  hired  men  to  carry  his  furs.  Behold,  then,  the 
English  well  advanced  upon  our  lands,  and,  what  is 
worse,  under  the  protection  of  a  crowd  of  savages 
whom  they  have  drawn  over  to  them,  and  whose 
number  increases  daily.” 

The  course  of  the  party  lay  up  the  Miami;  and 
they  toiled  thirteen  days  against  the  shallow  current 
before  they  reached  a  village  of  the  Miami  Indians, 
lately  built  at  the  mouth  of  the  rivulet  now  called 
Loramie  Creek.  Over  it  ruled  a  chief  to  whom  the 
French  had  given  the  singular  name  of  La  Demoiselle, 
but  whom  the  English,  whose  fast  friend  he  was, 
called  Old  Britain.  The  English  traders  who  lived 
here  had  prudently  withdrawn,  leaving  only  two 
hired  men  in  the  place.  The  object  of  C^loron  was 
to  induce  the  Demoiselle  and  his  band  to  leave  this 
new  abode  and  return  to  their  old  villages  near  the 
French  fort  on  the  Maumee,  where  they  would  be 
safe  from  English  seduction.  To  this  end,  he  called 
them  to  a  council,  gave  them  ample  gifts,  and  made 
them  an  harangue  in  the  name  of  the  governor.  The 
Demoiselle  took  the  gifts,  thanked  his  French  father 
for  his  good  advice,  and  promised  to  follow  it  at  a 


LA  DEMOISELLE. 


1749.] 


55 


more  convenient  time.1  In  vain  Cffioron  insisted 
that  he  and  his  tribesmen  should  remove  at  once. 
Neither  blandishments  nor  threats  would  prevail, 
and  the  French  commander  felt  that  his  negotiation 
had  failed. 

He  was  not  deceived.  Far  from  leaving  his 
village,  the  Demoiselle,  who  was  Great  Chief  of  the 
Miami  Confederacy,  gathered  his  followers  to  the 
spot,  till,  less  than  two  years  after  the  visit  of 
Cdloron,  its  population  had  increased  eightfold. 
Pique  Town,  or  Pickawillany.  as  the  English  called 
it,  became  one  of  the  greatest  Indian  towns  of  the 
West,  the  centre  of  English  trade  and  influence, 
and  a  capital  object  of  French  jealousy.  ^ 

Cffioron  burned  his  shattered  canoes,  and  led  his 
party  across  the  long  and  difficult  portage  to  the 
French  post  on  the  Maumee,  where  he  found  Ray¬ 
mond,  the  commander,  and  all  his  men,  shivering 
with  fever  and  ague.  They  supplied  him  with 
wooden  canoes  for  his  voyage  down  the  river;  and, 
early  in  October,  he  reached  Lake  Erie,  where  he 
was  detained  for  a  time  by  a  drunken  debauch  of  his 
Indians,  who  are  called  by  the  chaplain  “a  species 
of  men  made  to  exercise  the  patience  of  those  who 
have  the  misfortune  to  travel  with  them.”  In  a 
month  more  he  was  at  Fort  Frontenac;  and  as  he 
descended  thence  to  Montreal,  he  stopped  at  the 


1  Celoron,  Journal.  Compare  A  Message  from  the  Twightwees 
(Miamis)  in  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  v.  437,  where  they  say  that 
they  refused  the  gifts. 


; " 


56 


CfiLORON  DE  BIENVILLE. 


[1749. 


Oswegatchie,  in  obedience  to  the  governor,  who  had 
directed  ffiim  to  report  the  progress  made  by  the 
Sulpitian,  Abbd  Piquet,  at  his  new  mission.  Piquet’s 
new  fort  had  been  burned  by  Indians,  prompted,  as 
he  thought,  by  the  English  of  Oswego;  but  the 
priest,  buoyant  and  undaunted,  was  still  resolute  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  confusion  of  the  heretics. 

Atrfeiigth  Cffioron  reached  Montreal;  and,  closing 
his  Journal,  wrote  thus:  “Father  Bonnecamp,  who 
is  a  Jesuit  and  a  great  mathematician,  reckons  that 
we  have  travelled  twelve  hundred  leagues ;  I  and  my 
officers  think  we  have  travelled  more.  All  I  can  say 
is,  that  the  nations  of  these  countries  are  very  ill- 
disposed  towards  the  French,  and  devoted  entirely  to 
the  English.”1  If  his  expedition  had  done  no  more, 
it  had  at  least  revealed  clearly  the  deplorable  con¬ 
dition  of  French  interests  in  the  West, 
y  While  Celoron  was  warning  English  traders  from 
the  Ohio,  a  plan  was  on  foot  in  Virginia  for  a  new 
invasion  of  the  French  domain.  An  association  was 
formed  to  settle  the  Ohio  country;  and  a  grant  of 
five  hundred  thousand  acres  was  procured  from  the 
King,  on  condition  that  a  hundred  families  should  be 
established  upon  it  within  seven  years,  a  fort  built, 
and  a  garrison  maintained.  The  Ohio  Company 

1  Journal  de  la  Campagne  que  moy  Celoron,  Chevalier  de  I’Ordre 
Royal  et  Militaire  de  St.  Louis,  Capitaine  Commandant  un  ddtache - 
ment  envoyd  dans  la  Belle  Riviere  par  les  ordres  de  M.  le  Marquis  de 
La  Galissoniere,  etc. 

Relation  d’un  voyage  dans  la  Belle  Riviere  sous  les  ordres  de  M.  de 
Celoron ,  par  le  Pere  Bonnecamp ,  en  1749. 


V 


1750.] 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY. 


57 


numbered  among  its  members  some  of  the  chief  men 
of  Virginia,  including  two  brothers  of  Washington; 
and  it  had  also  a  London  partner,  one  Hanbury,  a 
person  of  influence,  who  acted  as  its  agent  in  Eng¬ 
land.  In  the  year  after  the  expedition  of  Cdloron, 
its  governing  committee  sent  the  trader  Christopher 
GisL  to  explore  the  country  and  select  land.  It 
must  be  “good  level  land,”  wrote  the  committee; 
“we  had  rather  go  quite  down  to  the  Mississippi 
than  take  mean,  broken  land.  In  November  Gist 

reached  Logstown,  the  Chiningu^  of  Cdloron,  where 
he  found  what  he  calls  a  “parcel  of  reprobate  Indian 
traders.  Those  whom  he  so  stigmatizes  were 
Pennsylvanians,  chiefly  Scotch-Irish,  between  whom 
and  the  traders  from  Virginia  there  was  great 
jealousy.  Gist  was  told  that  he  “  should  never  go 
home  safe.”  He  declared  himself  the  bearer  of  a 
message  from  the  King.  This  imposed  respect,  and 
he  was  allowed  to  proceed.  At  the  Wyandot  village 
of  Muskingum  he  found  the  trader  Q^l^Croghan, 
sent  to  the  Indians  by  the  governor  of  Pennsylvania, 
to  renew  the  chain  of  friendship.2  “Croghan,”  he 
sa3  s,  is  a  mere  idol  among  his  countrymen,  the 
Irish  traders ;  ”  yet  they  met  amicably,  and  the  Penn¬ 
sylvanian  had  with  him  a  companion,  Andrew 
Montour,  the  interpreter,  who  proved  of  great  service 

1  Instructions  to  Gist,  in  appendix  to  Pownall,  Topographical 
Description  of  North  America. 

2  Mr-  Croghan’ s  Transactions  with  the  Indians,  in  N.  Y,  Col  Does., 
vii.  267  j  Croghan  to  Hamilton ,  16  December ,  1750, 


.  i 


<x> 


.  _L — 


( 


I 


C^LORON  DE  BIENVILLE. 


[1750. 


58 


to  Gist.  As  Montour  was  a  conspicuous  person  in 
his  time,  and  a  type  of  his  class,  he  merits  a  passing 
notice.  He  was  the  reputed  grandson  of  a  French 
governor  and  an  Indian  squaw.  His  half-breed 
mother,  Catharine  Montour,  was  a  native  of  Canada, 
whence  she  was  carried  off  by  the  Iroquois,  and 
adopted  by  them.  She  lived  in  a  village  at  the  head 
of  Seneca  Lake,  and  still  held  the  belief,  inculcated 
by  the  guides  of  her  youth,  that  Christ  was  a 
Frenchman  crucified  by  the  English.1  Her  son 
Andrew  is  thus  described  by  the  Moravian  Zinzendorf, 
who  knew  him  :  u  His  face  is  like  that  of  a  European, 
but  marked  with  a  broad  Indian  ring  of  bear’s-grease 
and  paint  drawn  completely  round  it.  He  wears  a 
coat  of  fine  cloth  of  cinnamon  color,  a  black  necktie 
with  silver  spangles,  a  red  satin  waistcoat,  trousers 
over  which  hangs  his  shirt,  shoes  and  stockings,  a 
hat,  and  brass  ornaments,  something  like  the  handle 
of  a  basket,  suspended  from  his  ears.”2  He  was  an 
excellent  interpreter,  and  held  in  high  account  by 
his  Indian  kinsmen. 

After  leaving  Muskingum,  Gist,  Croghan,  and 
Montour  went  together  to  a  village  on  White 
Woman’s  Creek,  —  so  called  from  one  Mary  Harris, 


1  This  is  stated  by  Count  Zinzendorf,  who  visited  her  among  the 
Senecas  Compare  “  Frontenac  and  New  France  under  Louis  XIV./’ 
ii.  153.  In  a  plan  of  the  “Route  of  the  Western  Army,”  made  in 
1779,  and  of  which  a  tracing  is  before  me,  the  village  where  she 
lived  is  still  called  “  French  Catharine’s  Town.” 

2  Journal  of  Zinzendorf,  quoted  in  Schweinitz,  Life  of  David 

Zeisberger ,  112,  note. 


% 


V 


1750,  1751.] 


PICKAWILLANY. 


59 


who  lived  here.  She  was  born  in  New  England, 
was  made  prisoner  when  a  child  forty  years  before, 
and  had  since  dwelt  among  her  captors,  finding  such 
comfort  as  she  might  in  an  Indian  husband  and  a 
family  of  young  half-breeds.  “ She  still  remembers,” 
says  Gist,  “that  they  used  to  be  very  religious  in 
New  England,  and  wonders  how  white  men  can  be 
so  wicked  as  she  has  seen  them  in  these  woods.”  He* 
and  his  companions  now  journeyed  southwestward  to 
the  Shawanoe  town  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto,  where 
they  found  a  reception  very  different  from  that  .which 
had  awaited  C^loron.  Thence  they  rode  northwest¬ 
ward  along  the  forest  path  that  led  to  Pickawillany, 
the  Indian  town  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Great 
Miami.  Gist  was  delighted  with  the  country,  and 
reported  to  his  employers  that  “  it  is  fine,  rich,  level 
land,  well  timbered  with  large  walnut,  ash,  sugar 
trees  and  cherry  trees;  well  watered  with  a  great 
number  of  little  streams  and  rivulets ;  full  of  beauti¬ 
ful  natural  meadows,  with  wild  rye,  blue-grass,  and 
clover,  and  abounding  with  turkeys,  deer,  elks,  and 
most  sorts  of  game,  particularly  buffaloes,  thirty  or 
forty  of  which  are  frequently  seen  in  one  meadow.” 
A  little  farther  west,  on  the  plains  of  the  Wabash 
and  the  Illinois,  he  would  have  found  them  by 
thousands. 

They  crossed  the  Miami  on  a  raft,  their  horses 
swimming  after  them ;  and  were  met  on  landing  by 
a  crowd  of  warriors,  who,  after  smoking  with  them, 
escorted  them  to  the  neighboring  town,  where  they 


60  .  CELORON  DE  BIENVILLE.  [1751. 

were  greeted  by  a  fusillade  of  welcome.  “We  en¬ 
tered  with  English  colors  before  us,  and  were  kindly 
received  by  their  king,  who  invited  us  into  his  own 
house  and  set  our  colors  upon  the  top  of  it;  then  all 
the  white  men  and  traders  that  were  there  came  and 
welcomed  us.”  This  “king ”  was  Old  Britain,  or  La 
Demoiselle.  Great  were  the  changes  here  since 
Cdloron,  a  year  and  a  half  before,  had  vainly  enticed 
him  to  change  his  abode,  and  dwell  in  the  shadow  of 
the  fleur-de-lis.  The  town  had  grown  to  four  hun¬ 
dred  families,  or  about  two  thousand  souls ;  and  the 
English  traders  had  built  for  themselves  and  their 
hosts  a  fort  of  pickets,  strengthened  with  logs. 

There  was  a  series  of  councils  in  the  long  house, 
or  town-hall.  Croghan  made  the  Indians  a  present 
from  the  governor  of  Pennsylvania;  and  he  and 
Gist  delivered  speeches  of  friendship  and  good  advice, 
which  the  auditors  received  with  the  usual  monosyl¬ 
labic  plaudits,  ejected  from  the  depths  of  their 
throats.  A  treaty  of  peace  was  solemnly  made 
between  the  English  and  the  confederate  tribes,  and 
all  was  serenity  and  joy ;  till  four  Ottawas,  probably 
from  Detroit,  arrived  with  a  French  flag,  a  gift  of 
brandy  and  tobacco,  and  a  message  fiom  the  French 
commandant  inviting  the  Miamis  to  visit  him. 
Whereupon  the  great  war-chief  rose,  and,  with  “a 
fierce  tone  and  very  warlike  air,”  said  to  the  envoys: 
“Brothers  the  Ottawas,  we  let  you  know,  by  these 
four  strings  of  wampum,  that  we  will  not  hear  any¬ 
thing  the  French  say,  nor  do  anything  they  bid  us.” 


MI  AM  IS  AND  ENGLISH. 


61 


1751.] 


Then  addressing  the  French  as  if  actually  present: 
“  Fathers,  we  have  made  a  road  to  the  sun-rising,  and 
have  been  taken  by  the  hand  by  our  brothers  the 
English,  the  Six  Nations,  the  Delawares,  Shawanoes, 
and  Wyandots.1  We  assure  you,  in  that  road  we 
will  go;  and  as  you  threaten  us  with  war  in  the 
spring,  we  tell  you  that  we  are  ready  to  receive  you.” 
Then,  turning  again  to  the  four  envoys:  “Brothers 
the  Ottawas,  you  hear  what  I  say.  Tell  that  to  your 
fathers  the  .French,  for  we  speak  it  from  our  hearts.” 
The  chiefs  then  took  down  the  French  flag  which 
the  Ottawas  had  planted  in  the  town,  and  dismissed 
the  envoys  with  their  answer  of  defiance. 

On  the  next  day  the  town-crier  came  with  a  mes¬ 
sage  from  the  Demoiselle,  inviting  his  English  guests 
to  a  “feather  dance,”  which  Gist  thus  describes:  “It 
was  performed  by  three  dancing-masters,  who  were 
painted  all  over  of  various  colors,  with  long  sticks  in 
their  hands,  upon  the  ends  of  which  were  fastened 
long  feathers  of  swans  and  other  birds,  neatly  woven 
in  the  shape  of  a  fowl’s  wing;  in  this  disguise  they 
performed  many  antic  tricks,  waving  their  sticks  and 
feathers  about  with  great  skill,  to  imitate  the  flying 
and  fluttering  of  birds,  keeping  exact  time  with  their 
music.”  This  music  was  the  measured  thumping  of 
an  Indian  drum.  From  time  to  time  a  warrior  would 
leap  up,  and  the  drum  and  the  dancers  would  cease 


1  Compare  Message  of  Miamis  and  Hurons  to  the  Governor  oj 
Pennsylvania  in  N.  Y.  Col  Does.,  xl  594;  and  Report  of  Croghan  in 
Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  v.  522,  523. 


62 


C^LORON  DE  BIENVILLE. 


[1751. 


as  he  struck  a  post  with  his  tomahawk,  and  in  a  loud 
voice  recounted  his  exploits.  Then  the  music  and 
the  dance  began  anew,  till  another  warrior  caught 
the  martial  fire,  and  bounded  into  the  circle  to  bran¬ 
dish  his  tomahawk  and  vaunt  his  prowess. 

On  the  first  of  March  Gist  took  leave  of  Pickawil- 
lany,  and  returned  towards  the  Ohio.  He  would 
have  gone  to  the  Falls,  where  Louisville  now  stands, 
but  for  a  band  of  French  Indians  reported  to  be 
there,  who  would  probably  have  killed  him.  After 
visiting  a  deposit  of  mammoth  bones  on  the  south 
shore,  long  the  wonder  of  the  traders,  he  turned 
eastward,  crossed  with  toil  and  difficulty  the  moun¬ 
tains  about  the  sources  of  the  Kanawha,  and  after  an 
absence  of  seven  months  reached  his  frontier  home 
on  the  Yadkin,  whence  he  proceeded  to  Roanoke 
with  the  report  of  his  journey.1 

All  looked  well  for  the  English  in  the  West; -.but 
under  this  fair  outside  lurked  hidden  danger.  The 
Miamis  were  hearty  in  the  English  cause,  and  so 
4  perhaps  were  the  Shawanoes ;  but  the  Delawares  had 
not  forgotten  the  wrongs  that  drove  them  from  their 
old  abodes  east  of  the  Alleghanies,  while  the  Mingoes, 
or  emigrant  Iroquois,  like  their  brethren  of  New 
York,  felt  the  influence  of  Joncaire  and  other  French 
agents,  who  spared  no  efforts  to  seduce  them.2  Still 


1  Journal  of  Christopher  Gist,  in  appendix  to  Pownall,  Topographi¬ 
cal  Description.  Mr.  Croghan’s  Transactions  with  the  Indians  in 
N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  vii.  267. 

2  Joncaire  made  anti-English  speeches  to  the  Ohio  Indians 


egos! 


1750-1752.] 


ENGLISH  APATHY. 


more  baneful  to  British  interests  were  the  apath^Bl 
dissensions  of  the  British  colonies  themselves.  The 
Ohio  Company  had  built  a  trading-house  at  Will’s 
Creek,  a  branch  of  the  Potomac,  to  which  the  Indians 
resorted  in  great  numbers;  whereupon  the  jealous 
traders  of  Pennsylvania  told  them  that  the  Virginians 
meant  to  steal  away  their  lands.  This  confirmed 
what  they  had  been  taught  by  the  French  emissaries, 
whose  intrigues  it  powerfully  aided.  The  governors 
of  New  Work,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia  saw  the 
importance  of  Indian  alliances,  and  felt  their  own 
responsibility  in  regard  to  them ;  but  they  could  do 
nothing  without  their  assemblies.  Those  of  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania  were  largely  composed  of 
tradesmen  and  farmers,  absorbed  in  local  interests, 
and  possessed  by  two  motives,  —  the  saving  of  the 
people  s  money,  and  opposition  to  the  governor,  who 
stood  for  the  royal  prerogative.  It  was  Hamilton, 
of  Pennsylvania,  who  had  sent  Croghan  to  the 
Miamis  to  “renew  the  chain  of  friendship;”  and 
when  the  envoy  returned,  the  Assembly  rejected  his 
report.  “I  was  condemned,”  he  says,  “for  bringing 
expense  on  the  Government,  and  the  Indians  were 
neglected.”  1  In  the  same  year  Hamilton  again  sent 
him  over  the  mountains,  with  a  present  for  the 
Mingoes  and  Delawares.  Croghan  succeeded  in 


under  the  eyes  of  the  English  themselves,  who  did  not  molest  him. 
Journal  of  George  Croghan,  1751,  in  Olden  Time,  i.  136. 

1  Mr.  Croghan’s  Transactions  with  the  Indians,  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs 
vii.  267. 


C^LORON  DE  BIENVILLE.  [1750-1752. 


flRuading  them  that  it  would  be  for  their  good  if 
the  English  should  build  a  fortified  trading-house  at 
the  fork  of  the  Ohio,  where  Pittsburg  now  stands; 
and  they  made  a  formal  request  to  the  governor  that 
it  should  be  built  accordingly.  But,  in  the  words  of 
Croghan,  the  Assembly  44  rejected  the  proposal,  and 
condemned  me  for  making  such  a  report.’ ‘  Yet  this 
post  on  the  Ohio  was  vital  to  English  interests. 
Even  the  Penns,  proprietaries  of  the  province,  never 
lavish  of  their  money,  offered  four  hundred  pounds 
towards  the  cost  of  it,  besides  a  hundred  a  year 
towards  its  maintenance;  but  the  Assembly  would 
not  listen.1  The  Indians  were  so  well  convinced' 
that  a  strong.  English  trading-station  in  their  country 
would  add  to  their  safety  and  comfort,  that  when 
Pennsylvania  refused  it,  they  repeated  the  proposal 
to  Virginia;  but  here,  too,  it  found  for  the  present 
little  favor. 

The  question  of  disputed  boundaries  had  much  to 
do  with  this  most  impolitic  inaction.  A  large  part 
of  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  including  the  site  of  the 
proposed  establishment,  was  claimed  by  both  Penn¬ 
sylvania  and  Virginia  ;  and  each  feared  that  whatever 
money  it  might  spend  there  would  turn  to  the  profit 

l  Colonial,  Records  of  Pa.,  v.  515,  529,  547.  At  a  council  at  Logs- 
town  (1751),  the  Indians  said  to  Croghan:  “The  French  want  to 
cheat  us  out  of  our  country ;  hut  we  will  stop  them,  and,  Brothers 
the  English,  you  must  help  us.  We  expect  that  you  will  build  a 
strong  house  on  the  River  Ohio,  that  in  case  of  war  we  may  have  a 
place  to  secure  our  wives  and  children,  likewise  our  brothers  that 
come  to  trade  with  us .”  —  Report  of  Treaty  at  Log  stow  n,  Ibid.,  v.  538. 


1750-1752.] 


ENGLISH  APATHY. 


65 


of  the  other.  This  was  not  the  only  evil  that  sprang 
from  uncertain  ownership.  “Till  the  line  is  run 
between  the  two  provinces,”  says  Dinwiddie,  gov¬ 
ernor  of  Virginia,  “I  cannot  appoint  magistrates  to 
keep  the  traders  in  good  order.”1  Hence  they  did 
what  they  pleased,  and  often  gave  umbrage  to  the 
Indians.  Clinton,  of  Hew  York,  appealed  to  his 
Assembly  for  means  to  assist  Pennsylvania  in  “secur¬ 
ing  the  fidelity  of  the  Indians  on  the  Ohio,”  and  the 
Assembly  refused.2  “We  will  take  care  of  our 
Indians,  and  they  may  take  care  of  theirs :  ”  such  was 
the  spirit  of  their  answer.  He  wrote  to  the  various 
provinces,  inviting  them  to  send  commissioners  to 
meet  the  tribes  at  Albany,  “in  order  to  defeat  the 
designs  and  intrigues  of  the  French.”  All  turned 
a  deaf  ear  except  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and 
South  Carolina,  who  sent  the  commissioners,  but 
supplied  them  very  meagrely  with  the  indispensable 
presents.3  Clinton  says  further:  “The  Assembly  of 
this  province  have  not  given  one  farthing  for  Indian 
affairs,  nor  for  a  year  past  have  they  provided  for 
the  subsistence  of  the  garrison  at  Oswego,  which 
is  the  key  for  the  commerce  between  the  colonies 
and  the  inland  nations  of  Indians.”4 

In  the  heterogeneous  structure  of  the  British 

1  Dinwiddie  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  6  October,  1752. 

2  Journals  of  New  York  Assembly,  ii.  283,  284.  Colonial  Records 
of  Pa.,  y.  466. 

8  Clinton  to  Hamilton,  18  December,  1750.  Clinton  to  Lords  of 
Trade,  13  June,  1751 ;  Lbid.,  17  July,  1751. 

4  Clinton  to  Bedford,  30  July,  1750. 

VOL.  i.  —  5 


68 


C^LORON  DE  BIENVILLE.  L1750-1752. 


colonies,  their  clashing  interests,  their  internal  dis¬ 
putes,  and  the  misplaced  economy  of  penny-wise  and 
short-sighted  assembly-men,  lay  the  hope  of  France. 
The  rulers  of  Canada  knew  the  vast  numerical  pre¬ 
ponderance  of  their  rivals ;  but  with  their  centralized 
organization  they  felt  themselves  more  than  a  match 
for  any  one  English  colony  alone.  The^y  hoped  to 
wage  war  under  the  guise  of  peace,  and  to  deal  with 
the  enemy  in  detail;  and  they  at  length  perceived 
that  the  fork  of  the  Ohio,  so  strangely  neglected  by 
the  English,  formed,  together  with  Niagara,  the  key 
of  the  Great  West.  Could  France  hold  firmly  these 
two  controlling  passes,  she  might  almost  boast  herself 
mistress  of  the  continent. 

Note.  — The  Journal  of  Celoron  (Archives  de  la  Marine)  is  very 
long  and  circumstantial,  including  the  proces  verbuux,  and  reports 
of  councils  with  Indians.  The  Journal  of  the  chaplain,  Bonne- 
camp  (Depot  de  la  Marine),  is  shorter,  hut  is  the  work  of  an  intelli¬ 
gent  and  observing  man.  The  author,  a  Jesuit,  was  skilled  in 
mathematics,  made  daily  observations,  and  constructed  a  map  of 
the  route,  still  preserved  at  the  Depot  de  la  Marine.  Concurrently 
with  these  French  narratives,  one  may  consult  the  English  letters 
and  documents  bearing  on  the  same  subjects,  in  the  Colonial 
Records  of  Pennsylvania,  the  Archives  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the 

Colonial  Documents  of  New  York. 

Three  of  Celoron’ s  leaden  plates  have  been  found,—  the  two 
mentioned  in  the  text,  and  another  which  was  never  buried,  and 
which  the  Indians,  who  regarded  these  mysterious  tablets  as  “  bad 
medicine,”  procured  by  a  trick  from  Joncaire,  or,  according  to 
Governor  Clinton,  stole  from  him.  A  Cayuga  chief  brought  it  to 
Colonel  Johnson  on  the  Mohawk,  who  interpreted  the  Devilish 
writing  ”  in  such  a  manner  as  best  to  inspire  horror  of  French 
designs. 


v 


CHAPTER  TTT. 

1749-1753. 

CONFLICT  FOR  THE  WEST. 

The  Five  Nations.  —  Caughnawaga.  —  Abbe  Piquet  :  his 
Schemes;  his  Journey.  —  Fort  Frontenac.  —  Toronto.  — 
Niagara.  —  Oswego.  —  Success  of  Piquet.  — Detroit.  —  La 
Jonqui£re  :  His  Intrigues;  his  Trials;  his  Death.— 

English  Intrigues. — Critical  State  of  the  West. _ Pick- 

AWILLANY  DESTROYED.— DUQUESNE:  HIS  GRAND  ENTERPRISE. 

\  The  Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations,  sometimes  called 
Six  Nations  after  the  Tuscaroras  joined  them,  had 
been  a  power  of  high,  importance  in  American  inter¬ 
national  politics.  In  a  certain  sense  they  may  he 
said  to  have  held  the  balance  between  their  French 
and  English  neighbors;  but  their  relative  influence 
had  of  late  declined.  So  many  of  them  had  emi¬ 
grated  and  joined  the  tribes  of  the  Ohio,  that  the 
centre  of  Indian  population  had  passed  to  that  region.  • 
Nevertheless,  the  Five  Nations  were  still  strong 
enough  in  their  ancient  abodes  to  make  their  alliance 
an  object  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  both  the 
European  rivals.  At  the  western  end  of  their  “Long 
House,  or  belt  of  confederated  villages,  >Ioncaire 
intrigued  to  gain  them  for  France;  while  in  the  east^. 
he  was  counteracted  by  the  young  colonel  of  militia, 


68  CONFLICT  FOK  THE  WEST.  [1749-1753. 

dp mrm,  '■ 

^William  Johnson,  who  lived  on  the  Mohawk,  and 
was  already  well  skilled  in  managing  Indians. 
Johnson  sometimes  lost  his  temper;  and  once  wrote 
to  Governor  Clinton  to  complain  of  the  confounded 
wicked  things  the  French  had  infused  into  the  Indians’ 
heads ;  among  the  rest  that  the  English  were  deter¬ 
mined,  the  first  opportunity,  to  destroy  them  all.  I 
assure  your  Excellency  I  had  hard  work  to  beat  these 
and  several  other  cursed  villanous  things,  told  them 
by  the  French,  out  of  their  heads.”  1 

In  former  times  the  French  had  hoped  to  win  over 
the  Five  Nations  in  a  body,  by  wholesale  conversion 
to  the  Faith;  but  the  attempt  had  failed.  They  had, 
however,  made  within  their  own  limits  an  asylum  foi 
such  converts  as  they  could  gain,  whom  they  collected 
together  at  Caughnawaga,  near  Montreal,  to  the 
number  of  about  three  hundred  warriors.2  These 
could  not  be  trusted  to  fight  their  kinsmen,  but 
willingly  made  forays  against  the  English  borders. 
Caughnawaga,  like  various  other  Canadian  missions, 
was  divided  between  the  Church,  the  army,  and  the 
fur-trade.  It  had  a  chapel,  fortifications,  and  stoie- 
houses;  two  Jesuits,  an  officer,  and  three  .chief 
traders.  Of  these  last,  two  were  maiden  ladies,  the 
Demoiselles  Desauniers ;  and  one  of  the  J esuits,  their 
friend  Father  Tournois,  was  their  partner  in  busi¬ 
ness.  They  carried  on  by  means  of  the  Mission 


1  Johnson  to  Clinton,  28  April,  1749. 

2  The  estimate  of  a  French  official  repor-t,  1736,  and  of  bir 
William  Johnson,  1763. 


f 


J 


174f  -1753.]  PIQUET.  69 

rdians,  and  in  collusion  with  influential  persons  in 
the  coi  my,  a  trade  with  the  Dutch  at  Albany,  illegal, 
but  very  profitable.1 

*  Besides  this  Iroquois  mission,  which  was  chiefly 
composed  of  Mohawks  and  Oneidas,  another  was 
now  begun  farther  westward,  to  win  over  the  Onon- 
dagas,  Cayugas,  and  Senecas.  This  was  the  estab¬ 
lishment  of  Father  Piquet,  which  C^loron  had  visited 
in  its  infancy  when  on  his  way  to  the  Ohio,  and 
again  on  his  return.  Piquet  was  a  man  in  the  prime 
of  life,  of  an  ^alert,  vivacious  countenance,  by  no 
means  unprepossessing;2  an  enthusiastic  schemer, 
with  great  executive  talents ;  ardent,  energetic,  vain, 
self-confident,  and  boastful.^  The  enterprise  seems 
to  have  been  of  his  own  devising ;  but  it  found  warm 
approval  from  the  government.3  La  Presentation, 
as  he  called  the  new  mission,  stood  on  the  bank  of 
the  river  Oswegatchie  where  it  enters  the  St. 
Lawrence.  Here  the  rapids  ceased,  and  navigation 
was  free  to  Lake  Ontario.  The  place  commanded 
the  main  river,  and  could  bar  the  way  to  hostile  war- 
parties  or  contraband  traders.  Bich  meadows,  forests, 
and  abundance  of  fish  and  game,  made  it  attractive 

1  La  Jonquiere  au  Ministre,  27  Fevrier,  1750.  Ibid.,  29  Octobre, 
1751.  Ordres  du  Roy  et  Depeches  des  Ministres,  1751.  Notice  bio- 
graphique  de  La  Jonquiere.  La  Jonquiere,  governor  of  Canada,  at 
last  broke  up  their  contraband  trade,  and  ordered  Tournois  to 
Quebec. 

2  I  once  saw  a  contemporary  portrait  of  him  at  the  mission  of 
Two  Mountains,  where  he  had  been  stationed. 

8  Rouille  a  La  Jonquiere,  1749.  The  intendant  Bigot  gave  him 
money  and  provisions.  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  x.  204. 


x 


t 


CONFLICT  FOR  THE  WEST.  [1749*1753. 


to  Indians,  and  the  Oswegatchie  gave  access  to  the 
Iroquois  towns.  Piquet  had  chosen  his  sCe  with 
great  skill.  His  activity  was  admirable.  His  first 
stockade  was  burned  by  Indian  incendiaries;  but  it 
rose  quickly  from  its  ashes,  and  within  a  year  or  two 
the  mission  of  La  Presentation  had  a  fort  of  palisades 
flanked  with  blockhouses,  a  chapel,  a  storehouse,  a 
barn,  a  stable,  ovens,  a  saw-mill,  broad  fields  of  corn 
and  beans,  and  three  villages  of  Iroquois,  containing, 
in  all,  forty-nine  bark  lodges,  each  holding  three  or 
four  families,  more  or  less  converted  to  the  Faith; 
and,  as  time  went  on,  this  number  increased.  The 
governor  had  sent  a  squad  of  soldiers  to  man  the 
fort,  and  five  small  cannon  to  mount  upon  it.  The 
place  was  as  safe  for  the  new  proselytes  as  it  was 
convenient  and  agreeable.  The  Pennsylvanian  inter¬ 
preter,  Conrad  Weiser,  was  told  at  Onondaga,  the 
Iroquois  capital,  that  Piquet  had  made  a  hundred 
converts  from  that  place  alono;  and  that,  “having 
clothed  them  all  in  very  fine  clothes,  laced  with 
silver  and  gold,  he  took  them  down  and  presented 
them  to  the  French  governor  at  Montreal,  who  re- 
ceived  them  very  kindly,  and  made  them  large 
presents.”  1 

Such  were  some  of  the  temporal  attractions  of  La 
Presentation.  The  nature  of  the  spiritual  instruc¬ 
tion  bestowed  by  Piquet  and  his  fellow-priests  may 
be  partly  inferred  from  the  words  of  a  proselyte 
warrior,  vvho  declared  with  enthusiasm  that  he  had 
1  Journal  of  Conrad  Weiser ,  1750. 


71 


1749-1753.]  BOASTS  OF  PIQUET. 

learned  from  the  Sulpitian  missionary  that  the  King 
of  France  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  wife  of  Jesus 
Christ.1  This  he  of  course  took  in  a  literal  sense, 
the  mystic  idea  of  the  Church  as  the  spouse  of  Christ 
being  beyond  his  savage  comprehension.  The  effect 
was  to  stimulate  his  devotion  to  the  Great  Onontio 
beyond  the  sea,  and  to  the  lesser  Onontio  who  repre¬ 
sented  him  as  governor  of  Canada. 

Piquet  was  elated  by  his  success;  and  early  in 
1752  he  wrote  to  the  governor  and  intendant:  “It  is 
a  great  miracle  that,  in  spite  of  envy,  contradiction, 
and  opposition  from  nearly  all  the  Indian  villages,  I 
have  formed  in  less  than  three  years  one  of  the  most 
flourishing  missions  in  Canada.  I  find  myself  in  a 
position  to  extend  the  empire  of  my  good  masters, 
Jesus  Christ  and  the  King,  even  to  the  extremities 
of  this  new  world;  and,  with  some  little  help  from 
you,  to  do  more  than  France  and  England  have  been 
able  to  do  with  millions  of  money  and  all  their 
troops.”  2 

The  letter  from  which  this  is  taken  was  written  to 
urge  upon  the  government  a  scheme  in  which  the 
zealous  priest  could  see  nothing  impracticable.  He 
proposed  to  raise  a  war-party  of  thirty-eight  hundred 

1  Lalande,  Notice  de  V Abbe  Piquet,  in  Lettres  J^dijiantes.  See 
also  Tasse  in  Revue  Canadienne,  1870,  p.  9. 

2  Piquet  a  La  Jonquiere  et  Bigot,  8  Fevrier,  1752.  See  Appendix 
A.  In  spite  of  Piquet’s  self-laudation,  and  in  spite  also  of  the 
detraction  of  the  author  of  the  Memoires  sur  le  Canada,  1749-1760, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  his  practical  capacity  and  his  fertility  of 
resource.  Duquesne,  when  governor  of  the  colony,  highly  praises 
“  ses  talents  et  son  activite  pour  le  service  de  Sa  Majeste.” 


72 


CONFLICT  FOR  THE’  WEST. 


[1751. 


Indians,  eighteen  hundred  of  whom  were  to  be  drawn 
from  the  Canadian  missions,  the  Five  Nations,  and 
the  tribes  of  the  Ohio,  while  the  remaining  two 
thousand  were  to  be  furnished  by  the  Flatheads,  or 
Choctaws,  who  were  at  the  same  time  to  be  supplied 
with  missionaries.  The  united  force  was  first  to 
drive  the  English  from  the  Ohio,  and  next  attack 
the  Dog  Tribe,  or  Cherokees,  who  lived  near  the 
borders  of  Virginia,  with  the  people  of  which  they 
were  on  friendly  terms.  “If,”  says  Piquet,  “the 
English  of  Virginia  give  any  help  to  this  last-named 
tribe,  —  which  will  not  fail  to  happen,  —  they  [the 
war-party]  will  do  their  utmost  against  them,  through 
a  grudge  they  bear  them  by  reason  of  some  old 
quarrels.”  In  other  words,  the  missionary  hopes  to 
set  a  host  of  savages  to  butchering  English  settlers 
in  time  of  peace ! 1  His  wild  project  never  took 
effect,  though  the  governor,  he  says,  at  first  approved 
it. 

In  the  preceding  year  the  “  Apostle  of  the  Iroquois,” 
as  he  was  called,  made  a  journey  to  muster  recruits 
for  his  mission,  and  kept  a  copious  diary  on  the  way. 
By  accompanying  him,  one  gets  a  clear  view  of  an 
important  part  of  the  region  in  dispute  between  the 
.rival  nations.  Six  Canadians  paddled  him  up  the 
St.  Lawrence,  and  five  Indian  converts  followed  in 
another  canoe.  Emerging  from  among  the  Thousand 
Islands,  they  stopped  at  Fort  Frontenac,  where 
Kingston  now  stands.  Once  the  place  was  a  great 

1  Appendix  A. 


1751.]  PIQUET  AT  TORONTO.  73 

resort  of  Indians ;  now  none  were  here,  for  the  Eng¬ 
lish  post  of  Oswego,  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake, 
had  greater  attractions.  Piquet  and  his  company 
found  the  pork  and  bacon  very  bad,  and  he  com¬ 
plains  that  “  there  was  not  brandy  enough  in  the  fort 
to  wash  a  wound.”  They  crossed  to  a  neighboring 
island,  where  they  were  soon  visited  by  the  chaplain 
of  the  fort,  the  storekeeper,  his  wife,  and  three 
young  ladies,  glad  of  an  excursion  to  relieve  the 
monotony  of  the  garrison.  “My  hunters,”  says 
Piquet,  “had  supplied  me  with  means  of  giving 
them  a  pretty  good  entertainment.  We  drank,  with 
all  our  hearts,  the  health  of  the  authorities,  temporal 
and  ecclesiastical,  to  the  sound  of  our  musketry, 
which  was  very  well  fired,  and  delighted  the  islanders.  ” 
These  islanders  were  a  band  of  Indians  who  lived 
here.  Piquet  gave  them  a  feast,  then  discoursed  of 
religion,  and  at  last  persuaded  them  to  remove  to 
the  new  mission. 

During  eight  days  he  and  his  party  coasted  the 
northern  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  with  various  inci- 
dents,  such  as  an  encounter  between  his  dog  Cerberus 
and  a  wolf,  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  latter,  and  the 
meeting  with  “  a  very  fine  negro  of  twenty-two  years, 
a  fugitive  from  Virginia.”  On  the  twenty-sixth  of 
June  they  reached  the  new  fort  of  Toronto,  which 
offered  a  striking  contrast  to  their  last*  stopping- 
place.  “The  wine  here  is  of  the  best;  there  is  noth¬ 
ing  wanting  in  this  fort;  everything  is  abundant, 
fine,  and  good.”  There  was  reason  for  this.  The 


CONFLICT  FOR  THE  WEST. 


f  f  \  ✓ 


74 


[1751. 


H  I 


northern  Indians  were  flocking  with  their  beaver- 
skins  to  the  English  of  Oswego;  and  in  April,  1749, 
an  officer  named  Portnenf  had  been  sent  with  soldiers 
and  workmen  to  build  a  stockaded  trading-house  at 
Toronto,  in  order  to  intercept  them,  —  not  by  force, 
which  would  have  been  ruinous  to  French  interests, 
but  by  a  tempting  supply  of  goods  and  brandy.1 
Thus  the  fort  was  kept  well  stocked,  and  with  excel¬ 
lent  effect.  Piquet  found  here  a  band  of  Mississagas, 
who  would  otherwise,  no  doubt,  have  carried  their 
furs  to  the  English.  He  was  strongly  impelled  to 
persuade  them  to  migrate  to  La  Presentation;  but 
the  governor  had  told  him  to  confine  his  efforts  to 
other  tribes ;  and  lest,  he  says,  the  ardor  of  his  zeal 
should  betray  him  to  disobedience,  he  re-embarked, 
and  encamped  six  leagues  from  temptation. 

Two  days  more  brought  him  to  Niagara,  where  he 
was  warmly  received  by  the  commandant,  the  chap¬ 
lain,  and  the  storekeeper,  —  the  triumvirate  who 
ruled  these  forest  outposts,  and  stood  respectively  for 
their  three  vital  principles,  war,  religion,  and  trade. 
Here  Piquet  said  mass ;  and  after  resting  a  day,  set 
out  for  the  trading-house  at  the  portage  of  the  cata¬ 
ract,  recently  built,  like  Toronto,  to  stop  the  Indians 
on  their  way  to  Oswego.2  Here  he  found  J oncaire, 
and  here  also  was  encamped  a  large  band  of  Senecas ; 


V.  Hi 


1  On  Toronto,  La  Jonquiere  et  Bigot  au  Mimstre,  1749.  La  Jon - 
quiere  au  Mimstre,  30  Aout,  1750.  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  x.  201,  246. 

2  La  Jonquiere  au  Mimstre ,23  Ftfvrier,  1750.  Ibid.,Q  Octobre,  17oL 
Compare  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.}  v.  508. 


I 


iMpifW  i 


y 


(  ■ .  f  r 

17->1.]  PIQUET  AT  NIAGARA.  75 

tl  ough,  being  all  drunk,  men,  women,  and  children, 
they  were  in  no  condition  to  receive  the  Faith,  or 
appreciate  the  temporal  advantages  that  attended  it. 
On  the  next  morning,  finding  them  partially  sober, 
he  invited  them  to  remove  to  La  Presentation;  “but 
as  they  had  still  something  left  in  their  bottles,  I 
could  get  no  answer  till  the  following  day.”  “I 
pass  in  silence,”  pursues  the  missionary,  “an  infinity 
of  talks  on  this  occasion.  Monsieur  de  Joncaire  for¬ 
got  nothing  that  could  help  me,  and  behaved  like  a 
great  servant  of  God  and  the  King.  My  recruits 
increased  every  moment.  I  went  to  say  my  breviary 
while  my  Indians  and  the  Senecas,  without  loss  of 
time,  assembled  to  hold  a  council  with  Monsieur  de 
Joncaire.”  The  result  of  the  council  was  an  entreaty 
to  the  missionary  not  to  stop  at  Oswego,  lest  evil 
should  befall  him  at  the  hands  of  the  English.  He 
promised  to  do  as  they  wished,  and  presently  set  out 
on  his  return  to  Fort  Niagara,  attended  by  Joncaire 
and  a  troop  of  his  new  followers.  The  journey  was 
a  triumphal  progress.  “  Whenever  we  passed  a  camp 
or  a  wigwam,  the  Indians  saluted  me  by  firing  their 
guns,  which  happened  so  often  that  I  thought  all  the 
trees  along  the  way  were  charged  with  gunpowder ; 
and  when  we  reached  the  fort,  Monsieur  de  Becan- 
cour  received  us  with  great  ceremony  and  the  firing 
of  cannon,  by  which  my  savages  were  infinitely 
flattered.” 

His  neophytes  were  gathered  into  the  chapel  for 
the  first  time  in  their  lives,  and  there  rewarded  with 


76  CONFLICT  FOR  THE  WEST.  [l’Asi. 

a  few  presents.  He  now  prepared  to  turn  homeward, 
his  flock  at  the  mission  being  left  in  his  absence 
without  a  shepherd;  and  on  the  sixth  of  July  he 
embarked,  followed  by  a  swarm  of  canoes.  On  the 
twelfth  they  stopped  at  the  Genesee,  and  went  to 
visit  the  Falls,  where  the  city  of  Rochester  now 
stands.  On  the  way,  the  Indians  found  a  populous 
resort  of  rattlesnakes,  and  attacked  the  gregarious 
reptiles  with  great  animation,  to  the  alarm  of  the 
missionary,  who  trembled  for  his  bare-legged  retainers. 
His  fears  proved  needless.  Forty- two  dead  snakes, 
as  he  avers,  requited  the  efforts  of  the  sportsmen, 
and  not  one  of  them  was  bitten.  When  he  returned 
to  camp  in  the  afternoon  he  found  there  a  canoe 
loaded  with  kegs  of  brandy.  “The  English,”  he 
says,  “  had  sent  it  to  meet  us,  well  knowing  that  this 
was  the  best  way  to  cause  disorder  among  my  new 
recruits  and  make  them  desert  me.  The  Indian  in 
charge  of  the  canoe,  who  had  the  look  of  a  great 
rascal,  offered  some  to  me  first,  ^nd  then  to  my 
Canadians  and  Indians.  I  gave  out  that  it  was  very 
probably  poisoned,  and  immediately  embarked  again.” 

He  encamped  on  the  fourteenth  at  Sodus  Bay,  and 
strongly  advises  the  planting  of  a  French  fort  there. 
“Nevertheless,”  he  adds, “ it  would  be  still  better  to 
destroy  Oswego,  and  on  no  account  let  the  English 
build  it  again.”  On  the  sixteenth  he  came  in  sight 
of  this  dreaded  post.  Several  times  on  the  way  he 
had  met  fleets  of  canoes  going  thither  or  returning, 
in  spite  of  the  rival  attractions  of  Toronto  and 


J 


1751.]  PIQUET  AT  OSWEGO.  77 

Niagara.  No  English  establishment  on  the  conti¬ 
nent  was  of  such  ill  omen  to  the  French.  It  not  only 
robbed  them  of  the  fur-trade,  by  which  they  lived, 
but  threatened  them  with  military  and  political,  no 
less  than  commercial,  ruin.  They  were  in  constant 
dread  lest  ships  of  war  should  be  built  here,  strong 
enough  to  command  Lake  Ontario,  thus  separating 
Canada  from  Louisiana,  and  cutting  New  France 
asunder.  To  meet  this  danger,  they  soon  after  built 
at  Fort  Frontenac  a  large  three-masted  vessel, 
mounted  with  heavy  cannon;  thus,  as  usual,  fore¬ 
stalling  their  rivals  by  promptness  of  action.1  The 
ground  on  which  Oswego  stood  was  claimed  by  the 
Province  of  New  York,  which  alone  had  control  of  it; 
but  through  the  purblind  apathy  of  the  Assembly, 
and  their  incessant  quarrels  with  the  governor,  it 
was  commonly  left  to  take  care  of  itself.  For  some 
time  they  would  vote  no  money  to  pay  the  feeble 
little  garrison;  and  Clinton,  who  saw  the  necessity 
of  maintaining  it,  was  forced  to  do  so  on  his  own 
personal  credit.2 *  “Why  can’t  your  governor  and 
your  great  men  [the  Assembly]  agree?”  asked  a 
Mohawk  chief  of  the  interpreter,  Conrad  Weiser.8 

Piquet  kept  his  promise  not  to  land  at  the  English 
fort;  but  he  approached  in  his  canoe,  and  closely 
observed  it.  The  shores,  now  covered  by  the  city  of 
Oswego,  were  then  a  desolation  of  bare  hills  and 

1  Lieutenant  Lindesay  to  Johnson,  July,  1751. 

2  Clinton  to  JLords  of  Trade,  30  July,  1750. 

8  Journal  of  Conrad  Weiser,  1750. 


...A. 


I 

I 


f- 


78 


CONFLICT  FOR  THE  WEST. 


[1751. 


fields,  studded  with  the  stumps  of  felled  trees,  and 
hedged  about  with  a  grim  border  of  forests.  Near 
the  strand,  by  the  mouth  of  the  Onondaga,  were  the 
houses  of  some  of  the  traders;  and  on  the  higher 
ground  behind  them  stood  a  huge  blockhouse  with 
a  projecting  upper  story.  This  building  was  sur¬ 
rounded  by  a  rough  wall  of  stone,  with  flankers 
at  the  angles,  forming  what  was  called  the  fort.1 
Piquet  reconnoitred  it  from  his  canoe  with  the  eye 
of  a  soldier.  “It  is  commanded,”  he  says,  “on 
almost  every  side ;  two  batteries,  of  three  twelve- 
pounders  each,  would  be  more  than  enough  to  reduce 
it  to  ashes.”  And  he  enlarges  on  the  evils  that  arise 
from  it.  “  It  not  only  spoils  our  trade,  but  puts  the 
English  into  communication  with  a  vast  number  of 
our  Indians,  far  and  near.  It  is  true  that  they  like 
our  brandy  better  than  English  rum ;  but  they  prefer 
English  goods  to  ours,  and  can  buy  for  two  beaver- 
skins  at  Oswego  a  better  silver  bracelet  than  we  sell 
at  Niagara  for  ten.” 

The  burden  of  these  reflections  was  lightened 
when  he  approached  Fort  Frontenac.  “Never  was 
reception  more  solemn.  The  Nipissings  and  Algon- 
quins,  who  were  going  on  a  war-party  with  Monsieur 
BelStre,  formed  a  line  of  their  own  accord,  and 
saluted  us  with  three  volleys  of  musketry,  and  cries 
of  joy  without  end.  All  our  little  bark  vessels 
replied  in  the  same  way.  Monsieur  de  Vercheres 
and  Monsieur  de  Valtry  ordered  the  cannon  of  the 
1  Compare  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i.  463. 


I 


1751.] 


SUCCESS  OF  PIQUET. 


T9 


fort  to  be  fired;  and  my  Indians,  transported  with 
joy  at  the  honor  done  them,  shot  off  their  guns  inces¬ 
santly,  with  cries  and  acclamations  that  delighted 
everybody.”  A  goodly  band  of  recruits  joined  him, 
and  he  pursued  his  voyage  to  La  Presentation,  while 
the  canoes  of  his  proselytes  followed  in  a  swarm  to 
their  new  home ;  “  that  establishment  ”  —  thus  in  a 
burst  of  enthusiasm  he  closes  his  Journal  —  “that 
establishment  which  I  began  two  years  ago,  in  the 
midst  of  opposition;  that  establishment  which  may 
be  regarded  as  a  key  of  the  colony;  that  establish¬ 
ment  which  officers,  interpreters,  and  traders  thought 
a  chimera,  —  that  establishment,  I  say,  forms  already 
a  mission  of  Iroquois  savages  whom  I  assembled  at 
first  to  the  number  of  only  six,  increased  last  year  to 
eighty-seven,  and  this  year  to  three  hundred  and 
ninety-six,  without  counting  more  than  a  hundred 
and  fifty  whom  Monsieur  Chabert  de  Joncaire  is  to 
bring  me  this  autumn.  And  I  certify  that  thus  far 
I  have  received  from  His  Majesty  —  for  all  favor, 
grace,  and  assistance  —  no  more  than  a  half  pound 
of  bacon  and  two  pounds  of  bread  for  daily  rations ; 
and  that  he  has  not  yet  given  a  pin  to  the  chapel, 
which  I  have  maintained  out  of.  my  own  pocket,  for 
the  greater  glory  of  my  masters,  God  and  the 
King.”1 

1  Journal  qui  pent  servir  de  Mdmoire  et  de  Relation  du  Voyage  que 
ay  fait  sur  le  Lac  Ontario  pour  attirer  au  nouvel  Ptablissement  de  La 
Presentation  les  Sauvages  Iroquois  des  Cinq  Nations,  1751.  The  last 
passage  given  above  is  condensed  in  the  rendering,  as  the  original 
is  extremely  involved  and  ungrammatical. 


80 


CONFLICT  FOR  THE  WEST. 


[1751. 


In  his  late  journey  he  had  made  the  entire  circuit 
of  Lake  Ontario.  Beyond  lay  four  other  inland 
oceans,  to  which  Fort  Niagara  was  th  key.  As  that 
all-essential  post  controlled  the  passage  from  Ontario 
to  Erie,  so  did  Fort  Detroit  control  that  from  Erie  to 
Huron,  and  Fort  Michilimackinac  that  from  Huron 
to  Michigan;  while  Fort  Ste.  Marie,  at  the  outlet  of 
Lake  Superior,  had  lately  received  a  garrison,  and 
changed  from  a  mission  and  trading-station  to  a  post 
of  war.1  This  immense  extent  of  inland  navigation 
was  safe  in  the  hands  of  France  so  long  as  she  held 
Niagara.  Niagara  lost,  not  only  the  lakes,  but  also 
the  Valley  of  the  Ohio  was  lost  with  it.  Next  in 
importance  was  Detroit.  This  was  not  a  military 
post  alone,  hut  also  a  settlement;  and,  except  the 
hamlets  about  Fort  Chartres,  the  only  settlement 
that  France  owned  in  all  the  West.  There  were,  it 
is  true,  but  a  few  families ;  yet  the  hope  of  growth 
seemed  good ;  for  to  such  as  liked  a  wilderness  home, 
no  spot  in  America  had  more  attraction.  Father 
Bonnecamp  stopped  here  for  a  day  on  his  way  back 
from  the  expedition  of  Celoron.  “The  situation,” 
he  says,  “  is  charming.  A  fine  river  flows  at  the  foot 
of  the  fortifications;  vast  meadows,  asking  only  to 
be  tilled,  extend  beyond  the  sight.  Nothing  can  be 
more  agreeable  than  the  climate.  Winter  lasts  hardly 
two  months.  European  grains  and  fruits  grow  here 
far  better  than  in  many  parts  of  France.  It  is  the 
Touraine  and  Beauce  of  Canada.”2  The  white  flag 

1  La  Jonquiere  au  Ministre,  24  Aout,  1750. 

2  Relation  du  Voiage  de  la  Belle  Riviere,  1749. 


/ 


1750, 1751.]  DETROIT.  81 

of  the  Bourbons  floated  over  the  compact  little  pali¬ 
saded  town,  with  its  population  of  soldiers  and  fur- 
traders;  and  from  the  blockhouses  which  served  as 
bastions,  one  saw  on  either  hand  the  small  solid 
dwellings  of  the  habitants ,  ranged  at  intervals  along 
the  margin  of  the  water;  while  at  a  little  distance 
three  Indian  villages  —  Ottawa,  Pottawattamie,  and 
Wyandot  —  curled  their  wigwam  smoke  into  the  pure 
summer  air.1 

When  C^loron  de  Bienville  returned  from  the 
Ohio,  he  went,  with  a  royal  commission,  sent  him  a 
year  before,  to  command  at  Detroit.2  His  late  chap¬ 
lain,  the  very  intelligent  Father  Bonnecamp,  speaks 
of  him  as  fearless,  energetic,  and  full  .oJLresource ; 
but  the  g°vejnor_calls..him  haughty  andin&ubordinate. 
Great  efforts  were  made,  at  the  same  time,  to  build 
upxDetroit  is  a  centre  of  French  power  in  the  West. 
The  methods  employed  were  of  the  debilitating, 
paternal  character  long  familiar  to  Canada.  All 
emigrants  with  families  were  to  be  carried  thither  at 
the  King’s  expense ;  and  every  settler  was  to  receive 
in  free  gift  a  gun,  a  hoe,  an  axe,  a  ploughshare,  a 
scythe,  a  sickle,  two  augers,  large  and  small,  a  sow, 
six  hens,  a  cock,  six  pounds  of  powder,  and  twelve 
pounds  of  lead;  while  to  these  favors  were  added 
many  others.  The  result  was  that  twelve  families 

1  A  plan  of  Detroit  is  before  me,  made  about  this  time  by  the 
engineer  Lery. 

2  Le  Ministre  a  La  Jonquiere  et  Bigot,  14  Mai,  1749.  Le  Ministre  a 
Odor  on,  23  Mai,  1749. 

VOL.  I.  —  0 


v\ 


82 


CONFLICT  FOR  THE  WEST.  [1750,  1751. 


were  persuaded  to  go,  or  about  a  twentieth  part  of 
the  number  wanted.1  Detroit  was  expected  to  fur¬ 
nish  supplies  to  the  other  posts  for  five  hundred 
miles  around,  control  the  neighboring  Indians, 
thwart  English  machinations,  and  drive  off  English 
interlopers. 

La  Galissoniere  no  longer  governed  Canada.  He 
had  been  honorably  recalled,  and  the  Marquis  de  la 
Jonquiere  sent  in  his  stead.2  La  Jonquil  re,  like  his 
predecessor,  was  a  naval  officer  of  high  repute;  he 
was  tall  and  imposing  in  person,  and  of  undoubted 
capacity  and  courage ;  but  old  and,  according  to  his 
enemies,  very  avaricious.3  The  colonial  minister 
gave  him  special  instructions  regarding  that  thorn  in 
the  side  of  Canada,  Oswego.  To  attack  it  openly 
would  be  indiscreet,  as  the  two  nations  were  at 
peace ;  but  there  was  a  way  of  dealing  with  it  less 
hazardous,  if  not  more  lawful.  This  was  to  attack  it 
vicariously  by  means  of  the  Iroquois.  “  If  Abb6 
Piquet  succeeds  in  his  mission,”  wrote  the  minister 
to  the  new  governor,  “  we  can  easily  persuade  these 

1  Ordonnance  du  2  Janvier ,  1750.  La  Jonquiere  et  Bigot  au  Mi- 
nistre,  1750.  Forty-six  persons  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes  had  been 
induced  by  La  Galissoniere  to  go  the  year  before.  Lettres  communes 
de  La  Jonquiere  et  Bigot,  1749.  The  total  .fixed  population  of  Detroit 
and  its  neighborhood  in  1750  is  stated  at  four  hundred  and  eighty- 
three  souls.  In  the  following  two  years,  a  considerable  number  of 
young  men  came  of  their  own  accord,  and  Celoron  wrote  to  Mont¬ 
real  to  ask  fbr  girls  to  marry  them. 

2  Ze  Ministre  a  La  Galissoniere,  14  Mai,  1749. 

3  Mdmoires  sur  le  Canada,  1749-1760.  The  charges  made  here 
and  elsewhere  are  denied,  somewhat  faintly,  by  a  descendant  of  La 
Jonquiere  in  his  elaborate  Notice  biographique  of  his  ancestor. 


1750,  1751.]  CLINTON  AND  LA  JONQUIERE 


83 


savages  to  destroy  Oswego.  This  is  of  the  utmost 
importance;  but  act  with  great  caution.”1  In  the 
next  year  the  minister  wrote  again:  “The  only 
means  that  can  be  used  for  such  an  operation  in  time 
of  peace  are  those  of  the  Iroquois.  If  by  making 
these  savages  regard  such  an  establishment  [ Oswego ] 
as  opposed  to  their  liberty,  and,  so  to  speak,  a  usur¬ 
pation  by  which  the  English  mean  to  get  possession 
of  their  lands,  they  could  be  induced  to  undertake  its 
destruction,  an  operation  of  the  sort  is  not  to  be 
neglected;  but  M.  le  Marquis  de  la  Jonquiere  should 
feel  with  what  circumspection  such  an  affair  should 
be  conducted,  and  he  should  labor  to  accomplish  it 
in  a  manner  not  to  commit  himself.”2  To  this  La 
Jonquiere  replies  that  it  will  need  time;  but  that  he 
will  gradually  bring  the  Iroquois  to  attack  and 
destroy  the  English  post.  He  received  stringent 
orders  to  use  every  means  to  prevent  the  English 
from  encroaching,  but  to  act  towards  them  at  the 
same  time  “with  the  greatest  politeness.” 3  This 
last  injunction  was  scarcely  fulfilled  in  a  correspond¬ 
ence  which  he  had  with  Clinton,  governor  of  New 
York,  who  had  written  to  complain  of  the  new  post 
at  the  Niagara  portage  as  an  invasion  of  English 
territory,  and  also  of  the  arrest  of  four  English 

1  Le  Ministre  a  La  Jonquiere,  Mai,  1749.  The  instructions  given 
to  La  Jonquifcre  before  leaving  France  also  urge  the  necessity  of 
destroying  Oswego. 

2  Ordres  du  Roy  et  Dfyeches  des  Ministres ;  a  MM.  de  La  Jonquiere 
et  Biyot,  15  Avril,  1750.  See  Appendix  A  for  original. 

8  Ordres  du  Roy  et  Depeches  des  Ministres ,  1750. 


84 


CONFLICT  FOR  THE  WEST.  [1750,  1751. 


traders  in  the  country  of  the  Miamis.  Niagara,  like 
Oswego,  was  in  the  country  of  the  Five  Nations, 
whom  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  declared  “subject  to  the 
dominion  of  Great  Britain.”1  This  declaration,  pre¬ 
posterous  in  itself,  was  binding  on  France,  whose 
plenipotentiaries  had  signed  the  treaty.  The  treaty 
also  provided  that  the  subjects  of  the  two  Crowns 
“shall  enjoy  full  liberty  of  going  and  coming  on 
account  of  trade,”  and  Clinton  therefore  demanded 
that  La  Jonqui£re  should  disavow  the  arrest  of  the 
four  traders  and  punish  its  authors.  The  French 
governor  replied  with  great  asperity,  spumed  the 
claim  that  the  Five  Nations  were  British  subjects, 
and  justified  the  arrest.2  He  presently  went  further. 
Rewards  were  offered  by  his  officers  for  the  scalps 
of  Croghan  and  of  another  trader  named  Lowry.3 
When  this  reached  the  ears  of  William  Johnson,  on 
the  Mohawk,  he  wrote  to  Clinton  in  evident  anxiety 
for  his  own  scalp:  “If  the  French  go  on  so,  there  is 
no  man  can  be  safe  in  his  own  house ;  for  I  can  at 
any  time  get  an  Indian  to  kill  any  man  for  a  small 
matter.  Their  going  on  in  that  manner  is  worse 
than  open  war.” 

The  French  on  their  side  made  counter-accusa¬ 
tions.  The  captive  traders  were  examined  on  oath 
before  La  Jonqui^re,  and  one  of  them,  John  Patton, 

1  Chalmers,  Collection  of  Treaties,  i.  382. 

2  La  Jonquihre  a  Clinton,  10  Aout,  1751. 

8  Deposition  of  Morris  Turner  and  Ralph  Kilgore,  in  Colonial 
Records  of  Pa.,  v.  482.  The  deponents  had  been  prisoners  at 
Detroit. 


V 


1750,  1751.]  LA  JONQUIERE’S  TROUBLES.  85 


is  reported  to  have  said  that  Croghan  had  instigated 
Indians  to  kill  Frenchmen.1  French  officials  declared 
that  other  English  traders  were  guilty  of  the  same 
practices;  and  there  is  very  little  doubt  that  the 
charge  was  true. 

The  dispute  with  the  English  was  not  the  only  . 
source  of  trouble  to  the  governor.  His  superiors  at 
Versailles  would  not  adopt  his  views,  and  looked  on 
him  with  distrust.  He  advised  the  building  of  forts 
near  Lake  Erie,  and  his  advice  was  rejected. 
“Niagara  and  Detroit,”  he  was  told,  “will  secure 
forever  our  communications  with  Louisiana.  ”  2  “  His 

Majesty,”  again  wrote  the  colonial  minister,  “  thought 
that  expenses  would  diminish  after  the  peace;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  they  have  increased.  There  must 
be  great  abuses.  You  and  the  intendant  must  look 
to  it.”3  Great  abuses  there  were;  and  of  the  money 
sent  to  Canada  for  the  service  of  the  King  the  larger 
part  found  its  way  into  the  pockets  of  speculators. 

The  colony  was  eaten  to  the  heart  with  official  cor-  •  r  ^ 
ruption;  and  the  centre  of  it  was  Francois  Bigot,  j 
the  intendant.  The  minister  directed  La  Jonquiere’s 
attention  to  certain  malpractices  which  had  been 
reported  to  him;  and  the  old  man,  deeply  touched, 
replied :  “  I  have  reached  the  age  of  sixty-six  years, 
and  there  is  not  a  drop  of  blood  in  my  veins  that  does 
not  thrill  for  the  service  of  my  King.  I  will  not 


1  Precis  des  Faits,  avec  leurs  Pieces  justificative s,  100. 

2  Ordres  du  Roy  et  Depeches  des  Ministres ,  1750. 

8  Ibid.,  6  Juin,  1751. 


86 


CONFLICT  FOR  THE  WEST.  [1750-1752. 


conceal  from  you  that  the  slightest  suspicion  on  your 
part  against  me  would  cut  the  thread  of  my  days.” 1 

Perplexities  increased;  affairs  in  the  West  grew 
worse  and  worse.  La  Jonquiere  ordered  Cdloron  to 
attack  the  English  at  Pickawillany ;  and  Cdloron 
could  not  or  would  not  obey.  UI  cannot  express, 
writes  the  governor,  “  how  much  this  business  troubles 
me;  it  robs  me  of  sleep;  it  makes  me  ill.”  Another 
letter  of  rebuke  presently  came  from  Versailles. 
“  Last  year  you  wrote  that  you  would  soon  drive  the 
English  from  the  Ohio ;  but  private  letters  say  that 
you  have  done  nothing.  This  is  deplorable.  If  not 
expelled,  they  will  seem  to  acquire  a  right  against 
us.  Send  force  enough  at  once  to  drive  them  off, 
and  cure  them  of  all  wish  to  return.”  2  La  J onquikre 
answered  with  bitter  complaints  against  C^loron, 
and  then  begged  to  be  recalled.  His  health,  already 
shattered,  was  ruined  by  fatigue  and  vexation;  and 
he  took  to  his  bed.  Before  spring  he  was  near  his 
end.3  It  is  said  that,  though  very  rich,  his  habits  of 
thrift  so  possessed  his  last  hours  that,  seeing  wax 
candles  burning  in  his  chamber,  he  ordered  others  of 
tallow  to  be  brought  instead,  as  being  good  enough 
to  die  by.  Thus  frugally  lighted  on  its  way,  his 
spirit  fled;  and  the  Baron  de  Longueuil  took  his 
place  till  a  new  governor  should  arrive. 

1  La  Jonquiere  au  Ministre,  19  Octobre,  1751. 

2  Ordres  du  Roy  et  Ddpeches  des  Ministres,  1751. 

8  He  died  on  the  sixth  of  March,  1752  ( Bigot  au  Ministre ,  6  Mai)  ; 
not  on  the  seventeenth  of  May,  as  stated  in  the  Memoires  sur  k 
Canada ,  1749-1760. 


87 


1751.  1752.]  PERIL  OF  THE  FRENCH. 

Sinister  tidings  came  thick  from  the  West.  Ray¬ 
mond,  commandant  at  the  French  fort  on  che 
Maumee,  close  to  the  centre  of  intrigue,  Wi  te: 
“My  people  are  leaving  me  for  Detroit.  Nobody 
wants  to  stay  here  and  have  his  throat  cut.  All  the 
tribes  who  go  to  the  English  at  Pickawillany  come 
back  loaded  with  gifts.  I  am  too  weak  to  meet  the 
danger.  Instead  of  twenty  men,  I  need  five  hundred. 

.  .  .(  We  have  made  peace  with  the  English,  yet  they 
try  continually  to  make  war  on  us  by  means  of  the 
Indians ;  they  intend  to  be  masters  of  all  this  upper 
country.  The  tribes  here  are  leaguing  together  to 
kill  all  the  French,  that  they  may  have  nobody  on 
their  lands  but  their  English  brothers.  This  I  am 
told  by  Coldfoot,  a  great  Miami  chief,  whom  I  think 
an  honest  man,  if  there  is  any  such  thing  among 
Indians.  ...  If  the  English  stay  in  this  country  we 
are  lost.  We  must  attack,  and  drive  them  out.” 
And  he  tells  of  war-belts  sent  from  tribe  to  tribe, 
and  rumors  of  plots  and  conspiracies  far  and  near. 

Without  doubt,  the  English  traders  spared  no 
pains  to  gain  over  the  Indians  by  fair  means  or  foul ; 
sold  them  goods  at  low  rates,  made  ample  gifts,  and 
gave  gunpowder  for  the  asking.  Saint-Ange,  who 
commanded  at  Vincennes,  wrote  that  a  storm  would 
soon  burst  on  the  heads  of  the  French.  Joncaire 
reported  that  all  the  Ohio  Indians  sided  with  the 
English.  Longueuil  informed  the  minister  that  the 
Miamis  had  scalped  two  soldiers ;  that  the  Piankishaws 
had  killed  seven  Frenchmen;  and  that  a  squaw  who 


V 


88  CONFLICT  FOR  THE  WEST.  [1751,  1752. 

had  lived  with  one  of  the  slain  declared  that  the 
tribes  of  the  Wabash  and  Illinois  were  leaguing  with 
th  Osages  for  a  combined  insurrection.  Every 
letter  brought  news  of  murder.  Small-pox  had 
broken  out  at  Detroit.  “It  is  to  be  wished,”  says 
Longueuil,  “  that  it  would  spread  among  our  rebels ; 
it  would  be  fully  as  good  as  an  army.  ...  We  are 
menaced  with  a  general  outbreak,  and  even  Toronto 
is  in  danger.  .  .  .  Before  long  the  English  on  the 
Miami  will  gain  over  all  the  surrounding  tribes,  get 
possession  of  Fort  Chartres,  and  cut  our  communica¬ 
tions  with  Louisiana.”  1 

The  moving  spirit  of  disaffection  was  the  chief 
called  Ql(LJiritain,  or  the  Demoiselle,  and  its  focus 
was  his  town  of  Pickawillany,  on  the  Miami.  At 
this  place  it  is  said  that  English  traders  sometimes 
mustered  to  the  number  of  fifty  or  more.  “It  is 
they,”  wrote  Longueuil,  “who  are  the  instigators  of 
revolt  and  the  source  of  all  our  woes.”2  Whereupon 
the  colonial  minister  reiterated  his  instructions  to 
drive  them  off  and  plunder  them,  which  he  thought 
would  “effectually  disgust  them,”  and  bring  all 
trouble  to  an  end.3 

La  Jonquiere’s  remedy  had  been  more  heroic,  for 
he  had  ordered  Celoron  to  attack  the  English  and 
their  red  allies  alike;  and  he  charged  that  officer 

v  1  Dtpeches  de  Longueuil;  Lettres  de  Raymond;  Benoit  de  Saint - 
Clerc  a  La  Jonquiere,  Octobre,  1751. 

2  Longueuil  au  Ministre,  21  Avril,  1752. 

3  Le  Ministre  a  La  Jonquiere ,  1752.  Le  Ministre  a  Duquesne,  9 
Juillet,  1752. 


) 


1752.]  CHARLES  LANGLADE.  89 

with  arrogance  and  disobedience  because  he  had  not 
done  so.  It  is  not  certain  that  obedience  was  easy  ; 
for  though,  besides  the  garrison  of  regulars,  a  strong 
•  body  of  militia  was  sent  up  to  Detroit  to  aid  the 
stroke,1  the  Indians  of  that  post,  whose  co-operation 
was  thought  necessary,  proved  half-hearted,  intract¬ 
able  and  even  touched  with  disaffection.  Thus  the 
enterprise  languished  till,  in  June,  aid  came  from 
another  quarter.  Ch^jJgs^JLjjiglade,  a  young  French 
trader  married  to  a  squaw  at  Green  Bay,  and  strong 
in  influence  with  the  tribes  of  that  region,  came  down 
the  lakes  from  Michilimackinac  with  a  fleet  of  canoes 
manned  by  two  hundred  and  fifty  Ottawa  and  Ojibwa 
warriors;  stopped  a  while  at  Detroit;  then  embarked 
again,  paddled  up  the  Maumee  to  Raymond’s  fort  at 
the  portage,  and  led  his  greased  and  painted  rabble 
through  the  forest  to  attack  the  Demoiselle  and  his 
English  friends.  They  approached  Pickawillany  at 
about  nine  o’clock  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty- 
first.  The  scared  squaws  fled  from  the  cornfields  into 
the  town,  where  the  wigwanfS  of  the  Indians  clustered 
about  the  fortified  warehouse  of  the  traders.  Of 
these  there  were  at  the  time  only  eight  in  the  place. 
Most  of  the  Indians  also  were  gone  on  their  summer 
hunt,  though  the  Demoiselle  remained  with  a  band  of 
his  tribesmen.  Great  was  the  screeching  of  war-whoops 
and  clatter  of  guns.  Three  of  the  traders  were 
caught  outside  the  fort.  The  remaining  five  closed 
the  gate,  and  stood  on  their  defence.  The  fight  was 

1  La  Jonquiere  a  Ctfloron,  1  Octobre,  1751. 


90 


CONFLICT  FOR  THE  WEST. 


[1752. 


soon  over.  Fourteen  Miamis  were  shot  down,  the 
Demoiselle  among  the  rest.  The  five  white  men  held 
out  till  the  afternoon,  when  three  of  them  surrendered, 
and  two,  Thomas  Burney  and  Andrew  McBryer,  made 
their  escape.  One  of  the  English  prisoners  being 
wounded,  the  victors  stabbed  him  to  death.  Seventy 
years  of  missionaries  had  not  weaned  them  from  can¬ 
nibalism,  and  they  boiled  and  ate  the  Demoiselle.1 

The  captive  traders,  plundered  to  the  skin,  were 
carried  by  Langlade  to  Duquesne,  the  new  governor, 
who  highly  praised  the  bold  leader  of  the  enterprise, 
and  recommended  him  to  the  minister  for  such 
reward  as  befitted  one  of  his  station.  “As  he  is  not 
in  the  King’s  service,  and  has  married  a  squaw,  I 
will  ask  for  him  only  a  pension  of  two  hundred 
francs,  which  will  flatter  him  infinitely.” 

The  Marquis  Duquesne,  sprung  from  the  race  of 
the  great  naval  commander  of  that  name,  had  arrived 
towards  midsummer;  and  he  began  his  rule  by  a 
general  review  of  troops  and  militia.  His  lofty 
bearing  offended  the  Canadians;  but  he  compelled 
their  respect,  and,  according  to  a  writer  of  the  time, 
showed  from  the  first  that  he  was  born  to  command. 
He  presently  took  in  hand  an  enterprise  which  his 
predecessor  would  probably  have  accomplished,  had 
the  home  government  encouraged  him.  Duquesne, 
profiting  by  the  infatuated  neglect  of  the  British 

1  On  the  attack  of  Pickawillany,  Longueuil  au  Ministre,  18  Aout, 
1752;  Duquesne  au  Ministre,  25  Octobre,  1752;  Colonial  Records  of 
Pa.,  v.  599  ;  Journal  of  William  Trent ,  1752.  Trent  was  on  the  spot 
a  few  days  after  the  affair, 


1753.] 


DU  4UESNE. 


provincial  assemblies,  prepared,  to  occupy  the  upper 
waters  of  the  Ohio,  and  secure  the  passes  with  forts 
and  garrisons.  Thus  the  Virginian  and  Pennsyl¬ 
vanian  traders  would  be  debarred  all  access  to  the 
West,  and  the  tribes  of  that  region,  bereft  henceforth 
of  English  guns,  knives,  hatchets,  and  blankets,  Eng¬ 
lish  gifts  and  English  cajoleries,  would  be  thrown 
back  to  complete  dependence  on  the  French.  The 
moral  influence,  too,  of  such  a  movement  would  be  in¬ 
calculable  ;  for  the  Indian  respects  nothing  so  much 
as  a  display  of  vigor  and  daring,  backed  by  force. 
In  short,  the  intended  enterprise  was  a  master-stroke, 
and  laid  the  axe  to  the  very  root  of  disaffection.  It 
is  true  that,  under  the  treaty,  commissioners  had 
been  long  in  session  at  Paris  to  settle  the  question  of 
American  boundaries;  but  there  was  no  likelihood 
that  they  would  come  to  agreement;  and  if  France 
would  make  good  her  western  claims,  it  behooved 
her,  while  there  was  yet  time,  to  prevent  her  rival 
from  fastening  a  firm  grasp  on  the  countries  in 
dispute. 

Yet  the  colonial  minister  regarded  the  plan  with 
distrust.  “  Be  on  your  guard,  ”  he  wrote  to  Duquesne, 

“  against  new  undertakings ;  private  interests  are 
generally  at  the  bottom  of  them.  It  is  through  these 
that  new  posts  are  established.  Keep  only  such  as 
are  indispensable,  and  suppress  the  others.  The 
expenses  of  the  colony  are  enormous ;  and  they  have 
doubled  since  the  peace.”  Again,  a  little  later: 
“Build  on  the  Ohio  such  forts  as  are  absolutely 


92 


CONFLICT  FOK  THE  WEST.  [1753. 

necessary,  but  no  more.  Remnnber  that  His  Majesty 
suspects  your  advisers  of  interested  views.’  1 

No  doubt  there  was  justice  in  the  suspicion. 
Every  military  movement,  and  above  all  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  every  new  post,  was  an  opportunity  to  the 
official  thieves  with  whom  the  colony  swarmed. 
Some  bands  of  favored  knaves  grew  rich;  while  a 
much  greater  number,  excluded  from  sharing  the 
illicit  profits,  clamored  against  the  undertaking,  and 
wrote  charges  of  corruption  to  Versailles.  Thus  the 
minister  was  kept  tolerably  well  informed,  but  was 
scarcely  the  less  helpless,  for  with  the  Atlantic 
between,  the  disorders  of  Canada  defied  his  control. 
Duquesne  was  exasperated  by  the  opposition  that 
met  him  on  all  hands,  and  wrote  to  the  minister : 
“  There  are  so  many  rascals  in  this  country  that  one 
is  forever  the  butt  of  their  attacks.”2 

It  seems  that  unlawful  gain  was  not  the  only  secret 
spring  of  the  movement.  An  officer  of  repute  says 
that  the  intendant,  Bigot,  enterprising  in  his  pleasures 
as  in  his  greed,  was  engaged  in  an  intrigue  with  the 
wife  of  Chevalier  Pean;  and  wishing  at  once  to  con¬ 
sole  the  husband  and  to  get  rid  of  him,  sought  for 
him  a  high  command  at  a  distance  from  the  colony. 
Therefore  while  Marin,  an  able  officer,  was  made 
first  in  rank,  P6an  was  made  second.  The  same 
writer  hints  that  Duquesne  himself  was  influenced  by 
similar  motives  in  his  appointment  of  leaders.3 

1  Ordres  du  Roy  et  Depeches  des  Ministres,  1753. 

2  Duquesne  au  Ministre,  29  Scptembre,  1754. 

8  Pouchot,  Me'moire  sur  la  derniere  Guerre  Je  VAm&ique  septen¬ 
trional  e  ( ed .  1781)  i.  8. 


1753.] 


THE  OHIO  ENTERPRISE.' 


93 


He  mustered  the  colony  troops,  and  ordered  out 
the  Canadians.  With  the  former  he  was  but  half 
satisfied;  with  the  latter  he  was  delighted;  and  he 
praises  highly  their  obedience  and  alacrity.  “  I  had 
not  the  least  trouble  in  getting  them  to  march. 
They  came  on  the  minute,  bringing  their  own  guns, 
though  many  people  tried  to  excite  them  to  revolt; 
for  the  whole  colony  opposes  my  operations.”  The 
expedition  set  out  early  in  the  spring  of  1753.  The 
whole  force  was  not  much  above  a  thousand  men, 
increased  by  subsequent  detachments  to  fifteen  hun¬ 
dred;  but  to  the  Indians  it  seemed  a  mighty  host; 
and  one  of  their  orators  declared  that  the  lakes  and 
rivers  were  covered  with  boats  and  soldiers  from 
Montreal  to  Presqu’isle.1  Some  Mohawk  hunters  by 
the  St.  Lawrence  saw  them  as  they  passed,  and 
hastened  home  to  tell  the  news  to  Johnson,  whom 
they  wakened  at  midnight,  “whooping  and  hollow¬ 
ing  in  a  frightful  manner.”2  Lieutenant  Holland  at 
Oswego  saw  a  fleet  of  canoes  upon  the  lake,  and  was 
told  by  a  roving  Frenchman  that  they  belonged  to 
an  army  of  six  thousand  men  going  to  the  Ohio,  “  to 
cause  all  the  English  to  quit  those  parts.”  8 

The  main  body  of  the  expedition  landed  at 

Presqu’isle,  on  the  southeastern  shore  of  Lake  Erie, 

•• 

where  the  to  vn  of  Erie  now  stands ;  and  here  for  a 
while  we  leave  them. 


1  Duquesne  au  Ministre,  27  Octobre,  1753. 

2  Johnson  to  Clinton,  20  April,  1753,  in  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  vi. 
8  Holland  to  Clinton,  15  May,  1753,  in  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1710-1754. 


V*' 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA. 

Acadia  ceded  to  England. — Acadians  swear  Fidelity. 
Halifax  founded.  —  French  Intrigue.  —  Acadian  Priests. 
Mildness  of  English  Rule.  —  Covert  Hostility  of  Aca¬ 
dians.  —  The  New  Oath.  —  Treachery  of  Versailles.  — 
Indians  incited  to  War.  —  Clerical  Agents  of  Revolt. 
„ Abb£  Le  Loutre. —Acadians  impelled  to  emigrate.  — 
Misery  of  the  Emigrants.  —  Humanity  of  Cornwallis  and 
Hopson.  —  Fanaticism  and  Violence  of  Le  Loutre.  —  Cap¬ 
ture  of  THE  “  St.  Francois.”  —  The  English  at  Beau- 
bassin.  —  Le  Loutre  drives  out  the  Inhabitants.  —  Murder 
of  Howe.  —  Beausejour.  —  Insolence  of  Le  Loutre  .  his 
Harshness  to  the  Acadians.  —  The  Boundary  Commission  . 
its  Failure.  —  Approaching  War. 


While  in  the  West  all  the  signs  of  the  sky  fore¬ 
boded  storm,  another  tempest  was  gathering  in  the 
East,  less  in  extent,  but  not  less  in  peril.  The  con¬ 
flict  in  Acadia  has  a  melancholy  interest,  since  it 
mded  in  a  catastrophe  which  prose  and  verse  have 
joined  to  commemorate,  but  of  which  the  causes 

lave  not  been  understood. 

Acadia  — that  is  to  say,  the  peninsula  of  Nova 
^»tia,  with  the  addition,  as  the  English  claimed,  of 
Resent  New  Brunswick  and  some  adjacent 
kwas  conquered  by  General  Nicholson  in 


1710-1749.] 


OATH  OF  FIDELITY. 


1710,  and  formally  transferred  by  France  to  the 
British  Crown,  three  years  later,  by  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht.  By  that  treaty  it  was  “  expressly  provided  ” 
that  such  of  the  French  inhabitants  as  “are  willing 
to  remain  there  and  to  be  subject  to  the  Kingdom  of 
Great  Britain,  are  to  enjoy  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  as  far  as  the  laws  of  Great  Britain  do  allow 
the  same;”  but  that  any  who  choose  may  remove, 
with  their  effects,  if  they  do  so  within  a  year.  Very 
few  availed  themselves  of  this  right;  and  after  the 
end  of  the  year  those  who  remained  were  required 
to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  King  George.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  in  a  little  time  they  would  have 
complied,  had  they  been  let  alone;  but  the  French  \ 
authorities  of  Canada  and  Cape  Breton  did  their 
utmost  to  prevent  them,  and  employed  agents  to  keep 
them  hostile  to  England.  Of  these  the  most  efficient 
were  the  French  priests,  who,  in  spite  of  the  treaty, 
persuaded  their  flocks  that  they  were  still  subjects  of 
King  Louis.  Hence  rose  endless  perplexity  to  the 
English  commanders  at  Annapolis,  who  more  than 
suspected  that  the  Indian  attacks  with  which  they 
were  harassed  were  due  mainly  to  French  instiga¬ 
tion.1  It  was  not  till  seventeen  years  after  the  treaty 
that  the  Acadians  could  be  brought  to  take  the  oath 
without  qualifications  which  made  it  almost  useless. 

1  See  the  numerous  papers  in  Selections  from  the  Public  Docu¬ 
ments  of  the  Province  of  Nova  Scotia  (Halifax,  1869),  pp.  1-165;  a 
government  publication  of  great  value. 


0 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA. 


[1749. 


The  English  authorities  seem  to  have  shown  through¬ 
out  an  unusual  patience  and  forbearance.  At  length, 
about  1730,  nearly  all  the  inhabitants  signed  by 
crosses,  since  few  of  them  could  write,  an  oath  recog¬ 
nizing  George  II.  as  sovereign  of  Acadia,  and  promis¬ 
ing  fidelity  and  obedience  to  him.1  This  restored  . 
comparative  quiet  till  the  war  of  1745,  when  some  of 
the  Acadians  remained  neutral,  while  some  took 
arms  against  the  English,  and  many  others  aided  the 
enemy  with  information  and  supplies. 

English  power  in  Acadia,  hitherto  limited  to  a 
feeble  garrison  at  Annapolis  and  a  feebler  one  at 
Canseau,  received  at  this  time  a  great  accession. 
The  fortress  of  Louisbourg,  taken  by  the  English 
during  the  war,  had  been  restored  by  the  treaty; 
and  the  French  at  once  prepared  to  make  it  a  mili¬ 
tary  and  naval  station  more  formidable  than  ever. 
Upon  this  the  British  ministry  resolved  to  establish 
another  station  as  a  counterpoise ;  and  the  harbor  of 
Chebucto,  on  the  south  coast  of  Acadia,  was  chosen 
as  the  site  of  it.  Thither  in  June,  1749,  came  a  fleet 
of  transports  loaded  with  emigrants,  tempted  by 
offers  of  land  and  a  home  in  the  New  World.  Some 
were  mechanics,  tradesmen,  farmers,  and  laborers; 
others  were  sailors,  soldiers,  and  subaltern  officers 
thrown  out  of  employment  by  the  peace.  Including 

1  The  oath  was  literatim  as  follows  :  “  Je  Promets  et  Jure  Sincere- 
ment  en  Foi  de  Chretien  que  Je  serai  entierement  Fidele,  et  Obeierai 
Vraiment  Sa  Majeste  Le  Roy  George  Second,  qui  [ sir. ]  Je  reconnoi 
pour  Le  Souvrain  Seigneur  de  l’Accadie  ou  Nouvelle  Ecosse. 
Ainsi  Dieu  me  Soit  en  Aide.” 


1749-1754.] 


HALIFAX. 


97 


women  and  children,  they  counted  in  all  about 
twenty-five  hundred.  Alone  of  all  the  British 
colonies  on  the  continent,  this  new  settlement  was 
the  offspring,  not  of  private  enterprise,  but  of  royal 
authority.  Yet  it  was  free  like  the  rest,  with  the 
same  popular  representation  and  local  self-govern¬ 
ment.  Edward  Cornwallis,  uncle  of  Lord  Cornwallis 
of  the  Revolutionary  War,  was  made  governor  and 
commander-in-chief.  Wolfe  calls  him  “sa  man  of 
approved  courage  and  fidelity ;  ”  and  even  the  caustic 
Horace  Walpole  speaks  of  him  as  “a  brave,  sensible 
young  man,  of  great  temper  and  good  nature.” 

Before  summer  was  over,  the  streets  were  laid  out, 
and  the  building-lot  of  each  settler  was  assigned  to 
him ;  before  winter  closed,  the  whole  were  under 
shelter,  the  village  was  fenced  with  palisades  and 
defended  by  redoubts  of  timber,  and  the  battalions 
lately  in  garrison  at  Louisbourg  manned  the  wooden 
ramparts.  Succeeding  years  brought  more  emigrants, 
till  in  1752  the  population  was  above  four  thousand. 
Thus  was  born  into  the  world  the  city  of  Halifax. 
Along  with  the  crumbling  old  fort  and  miserably 
disciplined  garrison  at  Annapolis,  besides  six  or  seven 
small  detached  posts  to  watch  the  Indians  and 
Acadians,  it  comprised  the  whole  British  force  on  the 

peninsula;  for  Canseau  had  been  destroyed  by  the 
French. 

The  French  had  never  reconciled  themselves  to 
the  loss  of  Acadia,  and  were  resolved,  by  diplomacy 
or  force,  to  win  it  back  again;  but  the  building  of 

VOL.  L  —  7  ° 


98 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754, 

Halifax  showed  that  this  was  to  he  no  easy  task,  and 
filled  them  at  the  same  time  with  alarm  for  the  safety 
of  Louisbourg.  On  one  point,  at  least,  they  saw 
their  policy  clear.  The  Acadians,  though  those  of 
them  who  were  not  above  thirty-five  had  been  born 
under  the  British  flag,  must  be  kept  French  at 
heart,  and  taught  that  they  were  still  French  sub¬ 
jects.  In  1T48  they  numbered  eighty-eight  hundred 
and  fifty  communicants,  or  from  twelve  to  thirteen 
thousand  souls;  but  an  emigration,  of  which  the 
causes  will  soon  appear,  had  reduced  them  in  1752 
to  but  little  more  than  nine  thousand.1  These  were 
divided  into  six  principal  parishes,  one  of  the  largest 
being  that  of  Annapolis.  Other  centres  of  popula¬ 
tion  were  Grand  Prd,  on  the  Basin  of  Mines ;  Beau- 
bassin,  at  the  head  of  Chignecto  Bay;  Pisiquid,  now 
Windsor;  and  Cobequid,  now  Truro.  Their  priests, 
who  were  missionaries  controlled  by  the  diocese  of 
Quebec,  acted  also  as  their  magistrates,  ruling  them 
for  this  world  and  the  next.  Being  subject  to  a 
French  superior,  and  being,  moreover,  wholly  French 
at  heart,  they  formed  in  this  British  province  a  wheel 
within  a  wheel,  the  inner  movement  always  opposing 
the  outer. 

Although,  by  the  twelfth  article  of  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht,  France  had  solemnly  declared  the  Acadians 

i  Description  de  I’Acadie,  avec  le  Norn  des  Paroisses  et  le  Nombre 
des  Habitants,  1748.  Me  moire  d  presenter  a  la  Cour  sur  la  Necessity 
de  fixer  les  Limites  de  VAcadie,  par  l’Abbe  de  ITsle-Dieu,  1753 
(1754? ).  Compare  the  estimates  in  Censuses  of  Canada  (Ottawa, 

1876). 


1749-1754.] 


ACADIAN  PRIESTS. 


99 


to  be  British  subjects,  the  government  of  Louis  XV. 
intrigued  continually  to  turn  them  from  subjects  into 
enemies.  Before  me  is  a  mass  of  English  documents 
on  Acadian  affairs  from  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle 
to  the  catastrophe  of  1755,  and  above  a  thousand 
pages  of  French  official  papers  from  the  archives  of 
Paris,  memorials,  reports,  and  secret  correspondence, 
relating  to  the  same  matters.  With  the  help  of 
these  and  some  collateral  lights,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
make  a  correct  diagnosis  of  the  political  disease  that 
ravaged  this  miserable  country.  Of  a  multitude  of 
proofs,  only  a  few  can  be  given  here ;  but  these  will 
suffice. 

It  was  not  that  the  Acadians  had  been  ill-used  by 
the  English;  the  reverse  was  the  case.  They  had 
been  left  in  free  exercise  of  their  worship,  as  stipu¬ 
lated  by  treaty.  It  is  true  that,  from  time  to  time, 
there  were  loud  complaints  from  French  officials  that 
religion  was  in  danger,  because  certain  priests  had 
been  rebuked,  arrested,  brought  before  the  Council 
at  Halifax,  suspended  from  their  functions,  or 
required,  on  pain  of  banishment,  to  swear  that  they 
would  do  nothing  against  the  interests  of  King 
George.  Yet  such  action  on  the  part  of  the  pro¬ 
vincial  authorities  seems,  without  a  single  exception, 
to  have  been  the  consequence  of  misconduct  on  the 
part  of  the  priest,  in  opposing  the  government  and 
stirring  his  flock  to  disaffection.  La  Jonquiere,  the 
determined  adversary  of  the  English,  reported  to  the 
bishop  that  they  did  not  oppose  the  ecclesiastics  in 


100 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA. 


[1749-1754. 


the  exercise  of  their  functions,  and  an  order  of  Louis 
XV.  admits  that  the  Acadians  have  enjoyed  liberty 
of  religion.1  In  a  long  document  addressed  in  1750 
to  the  colonial  minister  at  Versailles,  Roma,  an 
officer  at  Louisbourg,  testifies  thus  to  the  mildness 
of  British  rule,  though  he  ascribes  it  to  interested 
motives.  “  The  fear  that  the  Acadians  have  of  the 
Indians  is  the  controlling  motive  which  makes  them 
side  with  the  French.  The  English,  having  in  view 
the  conquest  of  Canada,  wished  to  give  the  French 
of  that  colony,  in  their  conduct  towards  the  Acadians, 
a  striking  example  of  the  mildness  of  their  govern¬ 
ment.  Without  raising  the  fortune  of  any  of  the 
inhabitants,  they  have  supplied  them  for  more  than 
thirty-five  years  with  the  necessaries  of  life,  often  on 
*  credit  and  with  an  excess  of  confidence,  without 
troubling  their  debtors,  without  pressing  them,  with¬ 
out  wishing  to  force  them  to  pay.  They  have  left 
them  an  appearance  of  liberty  so  excessive  that  they 
have  not  intervened  in  their  disputes  or  even  punished 
their  crimes.  They  have  allowed  them  to  refuse  with 
insolence  certain  moderate  rents  payable  in  grain 
and  lawfully  due.  They  have  passed  over  in  silence 
the  contemptuous  refusal  of  the  Acadians  to  take 
titles  from  them  for  the  new  lands  which  they  chose 
to  occupy.2 

1  La  Jonquiere  a  I’fiveque  de  Quebec,  14  Juin,  1750.  Mtmoire  du 
Roy  pour  servir  d’ Instruction  au  Comte  de  Raymond,  commandant  pour 
Sa  Majesty  a  VIsle  Royale  [Cape  Breton],  24  Avril,  1751. 

2  See  Appendix  B. 


1749-1754.] 


ACADIAN  HOSTILITY. 


101 


“We  know  very  well,”  pursues  Roma,  “the  fruits 
of  this  conduct  in  the  last  war;  and  the  English 
know  it  also.  Judge  then  what  will  be  the  wrath 
and  vengeance  of  this  cruel  nation.”  The  fruits  to 
which  Roma  alludes  were  the  hostilities,  open  or 
secret,  committed  by  the  Acadians  against  the  Eng¬ 
lish.  He  now  ventures  the  prediction  that  the 
enraged  conquerors  will  take  their  revenge  by  draft¬ 
ing  all  the  young  Acadians  on  board  their  ships-of- 
war,  and  there  destroying  them  by  slow  starvation. 
He  proved,  however,  a  false  prophet.  The  English 
governor  merely  required  the  inhabitants  to  renew 
their  oath  of  allegiance,  without  qualification  or 
evasion. 

It  was  twenty  years  since  the  Acadians  had  taken 
such  an  oath ;  and  meanwhile  a  new  generation  had 
grown  up.  The  old  oath  pledged  them  to  fidelity 
and  obedience;  but  they  averred  that  Phillips,  then 
governor  of  the  province,  had  given  them,  at  the 
same  time,  assurance  that  they  should  not  be  required 
to  bear  arms  against  either  French  or  Indians.  In 
fact,  such  service  had  not  been  demanded  of  them, 
and  they  would  have  lived  in  virtual  neutrality,  had 
not  many  of  them  broken  their  oaths  and  joined  the 
French  war -parties.  For  this  reason  Cornwallis 
thought  it  necessary  that,  in  renewing  the  pledge, 
they  should  bind  themselves  to  an  allegiance  as  com¬ 
plete  as  that  required  of  other  British  subjects.  This 
spread  general  consternation.  Deputies  from  the 
Acadian  settlements  appeared  at  Halifax,  bringing  a 


102  CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754. 

paper  signed  with,  the  marks  of  a  thousand  persons. 
The  following  passage  contains  the  pith  of  it.  “  The 
inhabitants  in  general,  sir,  over  the  whole  extent  of 
this  country  are  resolved  not  to  take  the  oath  which 
your  Excellency  requires  of  us;  but  if  your  Excel¬ 
lency  will  grant  us  our  old  oath,  with  an  exemption 
for  ourselves  and  our  heirs  from  taking  up  arms,  we 
will  accept  it.”1  The  answer  of  Cornwallis  was  by 
no  means  so  stern  as  it  has  been  represented.2  After 
the  formal  reception  he  talked  in  private  with  the 
deputies ;  and  u  they  went  home  in  good  humor, 

promising  great  things.”3 

The  refusal  of  the  Acadians  to  take  the  required 
oath  was  not  wholly  spontaneous,  but  was  mainly 
due  to  influence  from  without.  The  French  officials 
of  Cape  Breton  and  Isle  St.  Jean,  now  Prince 
Edward  Island,  exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost, 
chiefly  through  the  agency  of  the  priests,  to  excite 
the  people  to  refuse  any  oath  that  should  commit 
them  fully  to  British  allegiance.  At  the  same  time 
means  were  used  to  induce  them  to  migrate  to  the 
neighboring  islands  under  French  rule,  and  efforts 
were  also  made  to  set  on  the  Indians  to  attack  the 
English.  But  the  plans  of  the  French  will  best 
appear  in  a  despatch  sent  by  La  J onquiere  to  the 
colonial  minister  in  the  autumn  of  1749. 

“  Monsieur  Cornwallis  issued  an  order  on  the  tenth 

1  Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia,  173. 

*  See  Ibid.,  174,  where  the  answer  is  printed. 

8  Cornwallis  to  the  Hoard  of  Trade,  11  September ,  1749. 


1749-1754.] 


COVERT  WAR. 


103 


of  the  said  month  [August],  to  the  effect  that  if  the 
inhabitants  will  remain  faithful  subjects  of  the  King 
of  Great  Britain,  he  will  allow  them  priests  and 
public  exercise  of  their  religion,  with  the  under¬ 
standing  that  no  priest  shall  officiate  without  his 
permission  or  before  taking  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the 
King  of  Great  Britain.  Secondly,  that  the  inhabit¬ 
ants  shall  not  be  exempted  from  defending  their 
houses,  their  lands,  and  the  Government.  Thirdly, 
that  they  shall  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  King 
of  Great  Britain,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  this  month, 
before  officers  sent  them  for  that  purpose.” 

La  J onquiere  proceeds  to  say  that  on  hearing  these 
conditions  the  Acadians  were  filled  with  perplexity 
and  alarm,  and  that  he,  the  governor,  had  directed 
Boishdbert,  his  chief  officer  on  the  Acadian  frontier, 
to  encourage  them  to  leave  their  homes  and  seek 
asylum  on  French  soil.  He  thus  recounts  the  steps 
he  has  taken  to  harass  the  English  of  Halifax  by 
means  of  their  Indian  neighbors.  As  peace  had  been 
declared,  the  operation  was  delicate ;  and  when  three 
of  these  Indians  came  to  him  from  their  missionary, 
Le  Loutre,  with  letters  on  the  subject,  La  Jonquiere 
was  discreetly  reticent.  “I  did  not  care  to  give 
them  any  advice  upon  the  matter,  and  confined  my¬ 
self  to  a  promise  that  I  would  on  no  account  abandon 
them ;  and  I  have  provided  for  supplying  them  with 
everything,  whether  arms,  ammunition,  food,  or 
other  necessaries.  It  is  to  be  desired  that  these 
savages  should  succeed  in  thwarting  the  designs  of 


104 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754. 

the  English,  and  even  their  settlement  at  Halifax. 
They  are  bent  on  doing  so;  and  if  they  can  carry 
out  their  plans,  it  is  certain  that  they  will  give  the 
English  great  trouble,  and  so  harass  them  that  they 
will  be  a  great  obstacle  in  their  path.  These  savages 
are  to  act  alone;  neither  soldier  nor  French  inhabit¬ 
ant  is  to  join  them ;  everything  will  be  done  of  their 
own  motion,  and  without  showing  that  I  had  any 
knowledge  of  the  matter.  This  is  very  essential; 
therefore  I  have  written  to  the  Sieur  de  Boishdbert  to 
observe  great  prudence  in  his  measures,  and  to  act 
very  secretly,  in  order  that  the  English  may  not 
perceive  that  we  are  providing  for  the  needs  of  the 
said  savages. 

“It  will  be  the  missionaries  who  will  manage  all 
the  negotiation,  and  direct  the  movements  of  the 
savages,  who  are  in  excellent  hands,  as  the  Reverend 
Father  Germain  and  Monsieur  l’Abb4  Le  Loutre  are 
very  capable  of  making  the  most  of  them,  and  using 
them  to  the  greatest  advantage  for  our  interests. 
They  will  manage  their  intrigue  in  such  a  way  as 
not  to  appear  in  it.” 

La  Jonquiere  then  recounts  the  good  results  which 
he  expects  from  these  measures:  first,  the  English 
will  be  prevented  from  making  any  new  settlements ; 
secondly,  we  shall  gradually  get  the  Acadians  out 
of  their  hands;  and  lastly,  they  will  be  so  d' scour- 
aged  by  constant  Indian  attacks  that  the^  will 
renounce  their  pretensions  to  the  parts  of  the 
country  belonging  to  the  King  of  France.  “I  feel, 


J 


1750.]  COVERT  WAR.  105 

Monseigneur,” — thus  the  governor  concludes  his 
despatch,  —  “  all  the  delicacy  of  this  negotiation ;  *  be 
assured  that  I  will  conduct  it  with  such  precaution 
that  the  English  will  not  be  able  to  say  that  my 
orders  had  any  part  in  it.”1 

He  kept  his  word,  and  so  did  the  missionaries. 
The  Indians  gave  great  trouble  on  the  outskirts  of 
Halifax,  and  murdered  many  harmless  settlers;  yet 
the  English  authorities  did  not  at  first  suspect  that 
they  were  hounded  on  by  their  priests,  under  the 
direction  of  the  governor  of  Canada,  and  with  the 
privity  of  the  minister  at  Versailles.  More  than 
this;  for,  looking  across  the  sea,  we  find  royalty 
itself  lending  its  august  countenance  to  the  machina¬ 
tion.  Among  the  letters  read  before  the  King  in  his 
cabinet  in  May,  1T50,  was  one  from  Desherbiers,  then 
commanding  at  Louisbourg,  saying  that  he  was  advis¬ 
ing  the  Acadians  not  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  King  of  England;  another  from  Le  Loutre, 
declaring  that  he  and  Father  Germain  were  consult¬ 
ing  together  how  to  disgust  the  English  with  their 
enterprise  of  Halifax ;  and  a  third  from  the  intendant, 
Bigot,  announcing  that  Le  Loutre  was  using  the 
Indians  to  harass  the  new  settlement,  and  that  he 
himself  was  sending  them  powder,  lead,  and  mer¬ 
chandise,  “to  confirm  them  in  their  good  designs.”2 

To  this  the  minister  replies  in  a  letter  to  Desher¬ 
biers:  “His  Majesty  is  well  satisfied  with  all  you 

1  La  Jonquiere  an  Ministre,  9  Octobre,  1749.  See  Appendix  B 

*  Resume  des  Lettres  lues  au  Travail  du  Roy ,  Mai,  1750. 


106  CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1750,  1751. 

have  done  to  thwart  the  EnglisL  in  their  new  estab¬ 
lishment.  If  the  dispositions  of  the  savages  are  such 
as  they  seem,  there  is  reason  to  hope  that  in  the 
course  of  the  winter  they  will  succeed  in  so  harassing 
the  settlers  that  some  of  them  will  become  disheart¬ 
ened.”  Desherbiers  is  then  told  that  His  Majesty 
desires  him  to  aid  English  deserters  in  escaping  from 
Halifax.1  Supplies  for  the  Indians  are  also  promised ; 
and  he  is  informed  that  twelve  medals  are  sent  him 
by  the  frigate  “La  Mutine,”  to  be  given  to  the  chiefs 
who  shall  most  distinguish  themselves.  In  another 
letter  Desherbiers  is  enjoined  to  treat  the  English 
authorities  with  great  politeness.2 

When  Count  Raymond  took  command  at  Louis- 
bourg,  he  was  instructed,  under  the  royal  hand,  to 
give  particular  attention  to  the  affairs  of  Acadia, 
especially  in  two  points,  —  the  management  of  the 
Indians,  and  the  encouraging  of  Acadian  emigration 
to  countries  under  French  rule.  “His  Majesty, 
says  the  document,  “has  already  remarked  that  the 
savages  have  been  most  favorably  disposed.  It  is 
of  the  utmost  importance  that  no  means  be  neglected 
to  keep  them  so.  The  missionaries  among  them  are 
in  a  better  position  than  anybody  to  contribute  to 
this  end,  and  His  Majesty  has  reason  to  be  satisfied 
with  the  pains  they  take  therein.  The  Sieur  de 

1  In  1750  nine  captured  deserters  from  Phillips’s  regiment  de¬ 
clared  on  their  trial  that  the  French  had  aided  them  and  supplied 
them  all  with  money.  Public  Documents  of  Nova  bcotia,  193. 

2  Le  Ministre  a  Desherbiers ,  23  Mai ,  1750  ;  Ibid.,  31  Mai,  1750. 


1749-1754.] 


COVERT  WAR. 


107 


Raymond  will  excite  these  missionaries  not  to  slacken 
their  efforts ;  but  he  will  warn  them  at  the  same  time 
so  to  contain  their  zeal  as  not  to  compromise  them¬ 
selves  with  the  English,  and  give  just  occasion  of 
complaint.”  1  That  is,  the  King  orders  his  representa¬ 
tive  to  encourage  the  missionaries  in  instigating  their 
flocks  to  butcher  English  settlers,  but  to  see  that 
they  take  care  not  to  be  found  out.  The  injunction 
was  hardly  needed.  “Monsieur  Desherbiers, ”  says  a 
letter  of  earlier  date,  “has  engaged  Abb£  Le  Loutre 
to  distribute  the  usual  presents  among  the  savages, 
and  Monsieur  Bigot  has  placed  in  his  hands  an  addi¬ 
tional  gift  of  cloth,  blankets,  powder,  and  ball,  to  be 
given  them  in  case  they  harass  the  English  at 
Halifax.  This  missionary  is  to  induce  them  to  do 
so.”2  In  spite  of  these  efforts,  the  Indians  began  to 
relent  in  their  hostilities ;  and  when  Longueuil 
became  provisional  governor  of  Canada,  he  com¬ 
plained  to  the  minister  that  it  was  very  difficult  to 
prevent  them  from  making  peace  with  the  English, 
though  Father  Germain  was  doing  his  best  to  keep 
them  on  the  war-path.3  La  Jonquiere,  too,  had  done 
his  best,  even  to  the  point  of  departing  from  his 
original  policy  of  allowing  no  soldier  or  Acadian  to 
take  part  with  them.  He  had  sent  a  body  of  troops 
under  La  Corne,  an  able  partisan  officer,  to  watch 

1  Mdmoire  du  Roy  pour  servir  d’ Instruction  au  Comte  de  Raymond, 
24  Avril,  1751. 

2  Lettre  commune  de  Desherbiers  et  Bigot  au  Ministre,  15  A  out, 

1749. 

3  Longueuil  au  Ministre,  26  Avril,  1752. 


108 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754. 


the  English  frontier;  and  in  the  same  vessel  was  sent 
a  supply  of  “  merchandise,  gnns,  and  munitions  for 
the  savages  and  the  Acadians  who  may  take  up  arms 
with  them ;  and  the  whole  is  sent  under  pretext  of 
trading  in  furs  with  the  savages.” 1  On  another  occa¬ 
sion  La  Jonquikre  wrote:  “In  order  that  the  savages 
may  do  their  part  courageously,  a  few  Acadians, 
dressed  and  painted  in  their  way,  could  join  them  to 
strike  the  English.  I  cannot  help  consenting  to 
what  these  savages  do,  because  we  have  our  hands 
tied  [by  the  peace],  and  so  can  do  nothing  ourselves. 
Besides,  I  do  not  think  that  any  inconvenience  will 
come  of  letting  the  Acadians  mingle  among  them, 
because  if  they  [the  Acadians]  are  captured,  we  shall 
say  that  they  acted  of  their  own  accord.”2  In  other 
words,  he  will  encourage  them  to  break  the  peace ; 
and  then,  by  means  of  a  falsehood,  have  them  pun¬ 
ished  as  felons.  Many  disguised  Acadians  did  in 
fact  join  the  Indian  war-parties ;  and  their  doing  so 
was  no  secret  to  the  English.  “  What  we  call  here 
an  Indian  war,”  wrote  Hopson,  successor  of  Corn¬ 
wallis,  “is  no  other  than  a  pretence  for  the  French 
to  commit  hostilities  on  His  Majesty’s  subjects.” 

At  length  the  Indians  made  peace,  or  pretended 
to  do  so.  The  chief  of  Le  Loutre’s  mission,  who 
called  himself  Major  Jean-Baptiste  Cope,  came  to 
Halifax  with  a  deputation  of  his  tribe,  and  they  all 

affixed  their  totems  to  a  solemn  treaty.  In  the  next 

v 

1  Bigot  au  Ministre,  1749. 

2  Ddpeches  de  La  Jonquiere,  1  Mai,  1751.  See  Appendix  B. 


1749-1754.] 


LE  LOUTRE. 


109 


summer  they  returned  with  ninety  or  a  hundred 
warriors,  were  well  entertained,  presented  with  gifts, 
and  sent  homeward  in  a  schooner.  On  the  way  they 
seized  the  vessel  and  murdered  the  crew.  This  is 
told  by  Provost,  intendant  at  Louisbourg,  who  does 
not  say  that  French  instigation  had  any  part  in  the 
treachery.1  It  is  nevertheless  certain  that  the  Indians 
were  paid  for  this  or  some  contemporary  murder; 
for  Provost,  writing  just  four  weeks  later,  says: 
“Last  month  the  savages  took  eighteen  English 
scalps,  and  Monsieur  Le  Loutre  was  obliged  to  pay 
them  eighteen  hundred  livres,  Acadian  money, 
which  I  have  reimbursed  him.”2 

From  the  first,  the  services  of  this  zealous  mis¬ 
sionary  had  been  beyond  price.  Prevost  testifies 
that,  though  Cornwallis  does  his  best  to  induce  the 
Acadians  to  swear  fidelity  to  King  George,  Le  Loutre 
keeps  them  in  allegiance  to  King  Louis,  and 
threatens  to  set  his  Indians  upon  them  unless  they 
declare  against  the  English.  “I  have  already,”  adds 
Provost,  “paid  him  11,183  livres  for  his  daily 
expenses;  and  I  never  cease  advising  him  to  be  as 
economical  as  possible,  and  always  to  take  care  not 
to  compromise  himself  with  the  English  Govern¬ 
ment.”  3  In  consequence  of  “good  service  to  religion 
and  the  state,”  Le  Loutre  received  a  pension  of  eight 


1  Provost  au  Ministre,  12  Mars ,  1753 ;  Ibid.,  17  Jaillet,  1753.  Pro¬ 
vost  was  ordonnateur ,  or  intendant,  at  Louisbourg.  The  treaty  will 
be  found  in  full  in  Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia,  683. 

2  Prevost  au  Ministre,  16  Aout,  1753. 

8  Ibid.,  22  Juillet,  1750. 


110  CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754. 

hundred  livres,  as  did  also  Maillard,  liis  brother  mis¬ 
sionary  on  Cape  Breton.  “The  fear  is,”  writes  the 
colonial  minister  to  the  governor  of  Louisbourg,  “  that 
their  zeal  may  carry  them  too  far.  Excite  them  to 
keep  the  Indians  in  our  interest,  but  do  not  let  them 
compromise  us.  Act  always  so  as  to  make  the 
English  appear  as  aggressors.” 1 

All  the  Acadian  clergy,  in  one  degree  or  another, 
seem  to  have  used  their  influence  to  prevent  the 
inhabitants  from  taking  the  oath,  and  to  persuade 
them  that  they  were  still  French  subjects.  Some 
were  noisy,  turbulent,  and  defiant;  others  were  too 
tranquil  to  please  the  officers  of  the  Crown.  A  mis¬ 
sionary  at  Annapolis  is  mentioned  as  old,  and  there¬ 
fore  inefficient;  while  the  cur6  at  Grand  Pffi,  also  an 
elderly  man,  was  too  much  inclined  to  confine  himself 
to  his  spiritual  functions.  It  is  everywhere  apparent 
that  those  who  chose  these  priests,  and  sent  them  as 
missionaries  into  a  British  province,  expected  them 
to  act  as  enemies  of  the  British  Crown.  The  maxim 
is  often  repeated  that  duty  to  religion  is  inseparable 

1  Le  Ministre  au  Comte  de  Raymond,  21  Juillet,  1752.  It  is  curious 
to  compare  these  secret  instructions,  given  by  the  minister  to  the 
colonial  officials,  with  a  letter  which  the  same  minister,  Rouille, 
wrote  ostensibly  to  La  Jonquiere,  but  which  was  really  meant  for 
the  eye  of  the  British  minister  at  Versailles,  Lord  Albemarle,  to 
whom  it  was  shown  in  proof  of  French  good  faith.  It  was  after¬ 
wards  printed,  along  with  other  papers,  in  a  small  volume  called 
Precis  des  Faits,  avec  leurs  Pieces  justijicatives,  which  was  sent  by 
the  French  government  to  all  the  courts  of  Europe  to  show  that 
the  English  alone  were  answerable  for  the  war.  The  letter,  it  is 
needless  to  say,  breathes  the  highest  sentiments  of  international 
honor. 


1749-1754.]  RESENTMENT  OF  CORNWALLIS. 


Ill 

from  duty  to  the  King  of  France.  The  Bishop  of 
Quebec  desired  the  Abb6  de  l’lsle-Dieu  to  represent 
to  the  Court  the  need  of  more  missionaries  to  keep 
the  Acadians  Catholic  and  French;  but,  he  adds, 
there  is  danger  that  they  (the  missionaries)  will  be 
required  to  take  an  oath  to  do  nothing  contrary  to 
the  interests  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain.1  It  is  a 
wonder  that  such  a  pledge  was  not  always  demanded. 
It  was  exacted  in  a  few  cases,  notably  in  that  of 
Girard,  priest  at  Cobequid,  who,  on  charges  of  insti¬ 
gating  his  flock  to  disaffection,  had  been  sent  prisoner 
to  Halifax,  but  released  on  taking  an  oath  in  the 
above  terms.  Thereupon  he  wrote  to  Longueuil  at 
Quebec  that  his  parishioners  wanted  to  submit  to  the 
English,  and  that  he,  having  sworn  to  be  true  to  the 
British  King,  could  not  prevent  them.  “  Though  I 
don’t  pretend  to  be  a  casuist,”  writes  Longueuil,  “I 
could  not  help  answering  him  that  he  is  not  obliged 
to  keep  such  an  oath,  and  that  he  ought  to  labor  in 
all  zeal  to  preserve  and  increase  the  number  of  the 
faithful.”  Girard,  to  his  credit,  preferred  to  leave 
the  colony,  and  retired  to  Isle'S?.  Jean.2 

Cornwallis  soon  discovered  to  what  extent  the 
clergy  stirred  their  flocks  to  revolt;  and  he  wrote 
angrily  to  the  Bishop  of  Quebec:  “Was  it  you  who 
sent  Le  Loutre  as  a  missionary  to  the  Micmacs  ?  and 
is  it  for  their  good  that  he  excites  these  wretches  to 

1  LTsle-Dieu,  Memoire  sur  VT^tat  actuel  des  Missions,  1753 
(1754?). 

2  Longueuil  au  Ministre ,  27  Avril ,  1752. 


■y. 


112 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754. 


X 


X  ' 


practise  tlieir  cruelties  against  those  who  have  shown 
them  every  kindness  ?  The  conduct  of  the  priests  of 
Acadia  has  been  such  that  by  command  of  His 
Majesty  I  have  published  an  Order  declaring  that  if 
any  one  of  them  presumes  to  exercise  his  functions 
without  my  express  permission  he  shall  be  dealt 
with  according  to  the  laws  of  England.”1 

The  English,  hound  by  treaty  to  allow  the  Acadians 
the  exercise  of  their  religion,  at  length  conceived  the 
idea  of  replacing  the  French  priests  by  others  to  be 
named  by  the  Pbpe  at  the  request  of  the  British  gov¬ 
ernment.  This,  becoming  known  to  the  French, 
greatly  alarmed  them,  and  the  intendant  at  Louis- 
bourg  wrote  to  the  minister  that  the  matter  required 
serious  attention.2  It  threatened,  in  fact,  to  rob 
them  of  their  chief  agents  of  intrigue;  but  their 
alarm  proved  needless,  as  the  plan  was  not  carried 
into  execution. 

The  French  officials  would  have  been  better  pleased 
had  the  conduct  of  Cornwallis  been  such  as  to  aid 
their  efforts  to  alienate  the  Acadians ;  and  one  writer, 
while  confessing  the  “  favorable  treatment  ”  of  the 
English  towards  the  inhabitants,  denounces  it  as  a 
snare.3  If  so,  it  was  a  snare  intended  simply  to 
reconcile  them  to  English  rule*  Nor  was  it  without 
effect.  “We  must  give  up  altogether  the  idea  of  an 


1  Cornwallis  to  the  Bishop  of  Quebec,  1  December,  1749. 

2  Daudin,  pretre,  a  Prevost,  23  Octobre ,  1753.  Provost  au  Minxstre, 
24  Novembre,  1753. 

8  Mimoire  a  presenter  a  la  Cour ,  1753. 


1749-1754.]  UNWILLING  EMIGRANTS.  113 

insurrection  in  Acadia,”  writes  an  officer  of  Cape 
Breton.  “The  Acadians  cannot  be  trusted;  they  are 
controlled  by  fear  of  the  Indians,  which  leads  them 
to  breathe  French  sentiments,  even  when  their  inclina¬ 
tions  are  English.  They  will  yield  to  their  interests ; 
and  the  English  will  make  it  impossible  that  they  should 
either  hurt  them  or  serve  us,  unless  we  take  measures 
different  from  those  we  have  hitherto  pursued.” 1 

During  all  this  time,  constant  efforts  were  made  to 
stimulate  Acadian  emigration  to  French  territory, 
and  thus  to  strengthen  the  Fren?(i  frontier.  In 
this  work  the  chief  agent  was  Le  Loutre.  “This 
priest,”  says  a  French  writer  of  the  time,  “urged  the 
people  of  Les  Mines,  Port  Royal  [Annapolis],  and 
other  places,  to  come  and  join  the  French,  and 
promised  to  all,  in  the  name  of  the  governor,  to  settle 
and  support  them  for  three  years,  and  even  indemnify 
them  for  any  losses  they  might  incur;  threatening  if 
they  did  not  do  as  he  advised,  to  abandon  them, 
deprive  them  of  their  priests,  have  their  wives  and 
children  carried  off,  and  their  property  laid  waste  by 
the  Indians.”2  Some  passed  over  the  isthmus  to  the 
shores  of  the  gulf,  and  others  made  their  way  to  the 
Strait  of  Canseau.  Vessels  were  provided  to  convey 
them,  in  the  one  case  to  Isle  St.  Jean,  now  Prince 
Edward  Island,  and  in  the  other  to  Isle  Royale, 
called  by  the  English  Cape  Breton.  Some  were 
eager  to  go ;  some  went  with  reluctance ;  some  would 

1  Roma  au  \Hnistre,  11  Mars,  1750. 

2  Memoires  sur  le  Canada,  1749-1760. 

YOL.  I.  —  8 


114 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754. 


scarcely  be  persuaded  to  go  at  all.  “They  leave 
their  homes  with  great  regret,”  reports  the  governor 
of  Isle  St.  Jean,  speaking  of  the  people  of  Cobequid, 
“and  they  began  to  move  their  luggage  only  when 
the  savages  compelled  them.”1  These  savages  were 
the  flock  of  Abbe  Le  Loutre,  who  was  on  the  spot  to 
direct  the  emigration.  Two  thousand  Acadians  are 
reported  to  have  left  the  peninsula  before  the  end  of 
1751,  and  many  more  followed  within  the  next  two 
years.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  misery  of  a  great 
part  of  these  emigrants,  who  had  left  perforce  most 
of  their  effects  behind.  They  became  disheartened 
and  apathetic.  The  intendant  at  Louisbourg  says 
that  they  will  not  take  the  trouble  to  clear  the  land, 
and  that  some  of  them  live,  like  Indians,  under  huts 
of  spruce -branches. 2  The  governor  of  Isle  St.  Jean 
declares  that  they  are  dying  of  hunger.3  Girard,  the 
priest  who  had  withdrawn  to  this  island  rather  than 
break  his  oath  to  the  English,  writes:  “Many  of 
them  cannot  protect  themselves  day  or  night  from 
the  severity  of  the  cold.  Most  of  the  children  are 
entirely  naked ;  and  when  I  go  into  a  house  they  are 
all  crouched  in  the  ashes,  close  tq  the  fire.  They 
run  off  and  hide  themselves,  without  shoes,  stock¬ 
ings,  or  shirts.  They  are  not  all  reduced  to  this 

extremity,  but  nearly  all  are  in  wart.”4  Mortality 

& 

1  Bonaventure  a  Desherbiers,  26  Juin,  1751. 

2  Prevost  au  Ministre,  25  Novembre,  1750. 

8  Bonaventure ,  ut  supra. 

4  Girard  a  (Bonaventure?),  27  Octobre,  1753. 


1749-1754.]  FORBEARANCE  OF  CORNWALLIS.  115 

among  them  was  great,  and  would  have  been  greater 
but  for  rations  supplied  by  the  French  government. 

During  these  proceedings,  the  English  governor, 
Cornwallis,  seems  to  have  justified  the  character  of 
good  temper  given  him  by  Horace  Walpole.  His 
attitude  towards  the  Acadians  remained  on  the 
whole  patient  and  conciliatory.  “My  friends,”  he 
replied  to  a  deputation  of  them  asking  a  general  per¬ 
mission  to  leave  the  province,  “  I  am  not  ignorant  of 
the  fact  that  every  means  has  been  used  to  alienate 
the  hearts  of  the  French  subjects  of  His  Britannic 
Majesty.  Great  advantages  have  been  promised  you 
elsewhere,  and  you  have  been  made  to  imagine  that 
your  religion  was  in  danger.  Threats  even  have 
been  resorted  to  in  order  to  induce  you  to  remove  to 
French  territory.  The  savages  are  made  use  of  to 
molest  you ;  they  are  to  cut  the  throats  of  all  who 
remain  in  their  native  country,  attached  to  their  own 
interests  and  faithful  to  the  Government.  You  know 
that  certain  officers  and  missionaries,  who  came  from 
Canada  last  autumn,  have  been  the  cause  of  all  our 
trouble  during  the  winter.  Their  conduct  has  been 
horrible,  without  honor,  probity,  or  conscience. 
Their  aim  is  to  embroil  you  with  the  Government. 
I  will  not  believe  that  they  are  authorized  to  do  so 
by  the  Court  of  France,  that  being  contrary  to  good 
faith  and  the  friendship  established  between  the  two 
Crowns.” 

What  foundation  there  was  for  this  amiable  confi¬ 
dence  in  the  Court  of  Versailles  has  been  seen  already. 


V 


♦ 

116  CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754. 

“When  you  declared  your  desire  to  submit  your¬ 
selves  to  another  Government,”  pursues  Cornwallis, 

“  our  determination  was  to  hinder  nobody  from  fol¬ 
lowing  what  he  imagined  to  be  his  interest.  IV e 
know  that  a  forced  service  is  worth  nothing,  and  that 
a  subject  compelled  to  be  so  against  his  will  is  not 
far  from  being  an  enemy.  We  confess,  however, 
that  your  determination  to  go  gives  us  pain.  We 
are  aware  of  your  industry  and  temperance,  and  that 
you  are  not  addicted  to  any  vice  or  debauchery. 
This  province  is  your  country.  You  and  your 
fathers  have  cultivated  it;  naturally  you  ought  your¬ 
selves  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  your  labor.  Such  was 
the  design  of  the  King,  our  master.  You  know  that 
we  have  followed  his  orders.  You  know  that  we 
have  done  everything  to  secure  to  you  not  only  the 
occupation  of  your  lands,  but  the  ownership  of  them 
forever.  We  have  given  you  also  every  possible 
assurance  of  the  free  and  public  exercise  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion.  But  I  declare  to  you 
frankly  that,  according  to  our  laws,  nobody  can  pos¬ 
sess  lands  or  houses  in  the  province  who  shall  refuse 
to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  his  King  when 
required  to  do  so.  You  know  very  well  that  there 
are  ill-disposed  and  mischievous  persons  among  you 
who  corrupt  the  others.  Your  inexperience,  your 
ignorance  of  the  affairs  of  government,  and  your  habit 
of  following  the  counsels  of  those  who  have  not  your 
real  interests  at  heart,  make  it  an  easy  matter  to 
seduce  you.  In  your  petitions  you  ask  for  a  general 


* 


1749-1754.] 


HOPSON. 


117 


leave  to  quit  the  province.  The  only  manner  in  which 
you  can  do  so  is  to  follow  the  regulations  already 
established,  and  provide  yourselves  with  our  pass¬ 
port.  And  we  declare  that  nothing  shall  prevent  us 
from  giving  such  passports  to  all  who  ask  for  them, 
the  moment  peace  and  tranquillity  are  re-estab¬ 
lished.”1  He  declares  as  his  reason  for  not  giving 
them  at  once,  that  on  crossing  the  frontier  “  you  will 
have  to  pass  the  French  detachments  and  savages 
assembled  there,  and  that  they  compel  all  the  inhabit¬ 
ants  who  go  there  to  take  up  arms  ”  against  the 
English.  How  well  this  reason  was  founded  will 
soon  appear. 

Hopson,  the  next  governor,  described  by  the 
French  themselves  as  a  “mild  and  peaceable  officer,” 
was  no  less  considerate  in  his  treatment  of  the 
Acadians;  and  at  the  end  of  1752  he  issued  the  fol¬ 
lowing  order  to  his  military  subordinates :  “You  are 
to  look  on  'the  French  inhabitants  in  the  same  light 
as  the  rest  of  His  Majesty’s  subjects,  as  to  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  the  laws  and  government ;  for  which  reason 
nothing  is  to  be  taken  from  them  by  force,  or  any 
price  set  upon  their  goods  but  what  they  themselves 
agree  to.  And  if  at  any  time  the  inhabitants  should 
obstinately  refuse  to  comply  with  what  His  Majesty’s 
service  may  require  of  them,  you  are  not  to  redress 

1  The  above  passages  are  from  two  addresses  of  Cornwallis, 
read  to  the  Acadian  deputies  in  April  and  May,  1750.  The  com¬ 
bined  extracts  here  given  convey  the  spirit  of  the  whole.  See 
Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia ,  185-190. 


V 


118  CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-175L 

yourself  by  military  force  or  in  any  unlawful  manner, 
but  to  lay  the  case  before  the  Governor  and  wait  his 
orders  thereon.”1  Unfortunately,  the  mild  rule  of 
Cornwallis  and  Hopson  was  not  always  maintained 
under  their  successor,  Lawrence. 

Louis  Joseph  Le  Loutre,  vicar-general  of  Acadia 
and  missionary  to  the  Micmacs,  was  the  most  con¬ 
spicuous  person  in  the  province,  and  more  than  any 
other  man  was  answerable  for  the  miseries  that  over¬ 
whelmed  it.  The  sheep  of  which  he  was  the  shepherd 
dwelt,  at  a  day’s  journey  from  Halifax,  by  the  banks 
of  the  river  Shubenacadie,  in  small  cabins  of  logs, 
mixed  with  wigwams  of  birch-bark.  They  were  not 
a  docile  flock;  and  to  manage  them  needed  address, 
energy,  and  money,  — with  all  of  which  the  mis¬ 
sionary  was  provided.  He  fed  their  traditional  dis¬ 
like  of  the  English,  and  fanned  their  fanaticism,  born 
of  the  villanous  counterfeit  of  Christianity  which  he 
and  his  predecessors  had  imposed  on  them.  Thus  he 
contrived  to  use  them  on  the  one  hand  to  murder  the 
English,  and  on  the  other  to  terrify  the  Acadians; 
yet  not  without  cost  to  the  French  government;  for 
they  had  learned  the  value  of  money,  and,  except 
when  their  blood  was  up,  were  slow  to  take  scalps 
without  pay.  Le  Loutre  was  a  man  of  boundless 
egotism,  a  violent  spirit  of  domination,  an  intense 
hatred  of  the  English,  and  a  fanaticism  that  stopped 
at  nothing.  Towards  the  Acadians  he  was  a  despot; 
and  this  simple  and  superstitious  people,  extremely 
1  Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia,  197. 


1749-1754.] 


LE  LOUTRE. 


119 


susceptible  to  the  influence  of  their  priests,  trembled 
before  him.  He  was  scarcely  less  masterful  in  bis 
dealings  with  the  Acadian  clergy;  and,  aided  by  his 
quality  of  the  bishop’s  vicar-general,  he  dragooned 
even  the  unwilling  into  aiding  his  schemes.  Three 
successive  governors  of  New  France  thought  him 
invaluable,  yet  feared  the  impetuosity  of  his  zeal, 
and  vainly  tried  to  restrain  it  within  safe  bounds. 
The  bishop,  while  approving  his  objects,  thought  his 
medicines  too  violent,  and  asked  in  a  tone  of  reproof : 
“  Is  it  right  for  you  to  refuse  the  Acadians  the  sacra¬ 
ments,  to  threaten  that  they  shall  be  deprived  of  the 
services  of  a  priest,  and  that  the  savages  shall  treat 
them  as  enemies?”1  “Nobody,”  says  a  French 
Catholic  contemporary,  “was  more  fit  than  he  to 
carry  discord  and  desolation  into  a  country.”2  Corn¬ 
wallis  called  him  “a  good-for-nothing  scoundrel,” 
and  offered  a  hundred  pounds  for  his  head.3 

The  authorities  at  Halifax.  L  while  exasperated  by 
the  perfidy  practised  on  them,  were  themselves  not 
always  models  of  international  virtue.  They  seized 
a  French  vessel  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  on  the 
charge  —  probably  true  —  that  she  was  carrying  arms 
and  ammunition  to  the  Acadians  and  Indians.  A 
less  defensible  act  was  the  capture  of  the  armed  brig 

1  L’fiveque  de  Quebec  a  Le  Loutre ;  translation  in  Public  Docu¬ 
ments  of  Nova  Scotia ,  240. 

2  Memoires  sur  le  Canada ,  1749-1760. 

3  On  Le  Loutre,  compare  Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia,  178— 
180,  note,  with  authorities  there  cited ;  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  x.  11 ; 
Memoires  sur  le  Canada,  1749-1760  (Quebec,  1838). 


120 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA. 


[1749-1754. 

“St.  Francois,”  laden  with  supplies  for  a  fort  lately 
re-established  by  the  French,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river  St.  John,  on  ground  claimed  by  both  nations. 
Captain  Kous,  a  New  England  officer  commanding  a 
frigate  in  the  royal  navy,  opened  fire  on  the  “St. 
Francois,”  took  her  after  a  short  cannonade,  and 
carried  her  into  Halifax,  where  she  was  condemned 
by  the  court.  Several  captures  of  small  craft,  accused 
of  illegal  acts,  were  also  made  by  the  English. 
These  proceedings,  being  all  of  an  overt  nature,  gave 
the  officers  of  Louis  XV.  precisely  what  they  wanted, 
—  an  occasion  for  uttering  loud  complaints,  and 
denouncing  the  English  as  breakers  of  the  peace. 

But  the  movement  most  alarming  to  the  French 
was  the  English  occupation  of  Beaubassin,  —  an  act 
perfectly  lawful  in  itself,  since,  without  reasonable 
doubt,  the  place  was  within  the  limits  of  Acadia,  and 
therefore  on  English  ground.1  Beaubassin  was  a 
considerable  settlement  on  the  isthmus  that  joins  the 
Acadian  peninsula  to  the  mainland.  Northwest  of 
the  settlement  lay  a  wide  marsh,  through  which  ran 
a  stream  called  the  Missaguash,  some  two  miles 
beyond  which  rose  a  hill  called  Beausejour.  On  and 
near  this  hill  were  stationed  the  troops  and  Cana¬ 
dians  sent  under  Boishdbert  and  La  Corne  to  watch 
the  English  frontier.  This  French  force  excited 
disaffection  among  the  Acadians  through  all  the 


1  La  Jonqui&re  himself  admits  that  he  thought  so.  “  Cette  partie 
la  dtant,  a  ce  que  je  crois,  dependante  de  l’Acadie.” —  La  Jonquiere 
au  Ministre,  3  Octobre,  1750. 


1749-1754.] 


BEAUBASSIN. 


121 


neighboring  districts,  and  constantly  helped  them  to 
emigrate.  Cornwallis  therefore  resolved  to  send  an 
English  force  to  the  spot;  and  accordingly,  towards 
the  end  of  April,  1750,  Major  Lawrence  landed  at 
Beaubassin  with  four  hundred  men.  News  of  their 
approach  had  come  before  them,  and  Le  Loutre  was 
here  with  his  Micmacs,  mixed  with  some  Acadians 
whom  he  had  persuaded  or  bullied  to  join  him. 
Resolved  that  t]ie  "people  of  Beaubassin  should  not 
live  under  .English  influence,  he  now  with  his  own 
hand  set  fire  to  the  parish  church,  while  his  white 
and  red  adherents  burned  the  houses  of  the  inhabit¬ 
ants,  and  thus  compelled  them  to  cross  to  the  French 
side  of  the  river.1  This  was  the  first  forcible  removal 
of  the  Acadians.  It  was  as  premature  as  it  was 
violent;  since  Lawrence,  being  threatened  by  La 
Corne,  whose  force  was  several  times  greater  than 
his  own,  presently  re-embarked.  In  the  following 
September  he  returned  with  seventeen  small  vessels 
and  about  seven  hundred  men,  and  again  attempted 
to  land  on  the  strand  of  Beaubassin.  La  Jonquiere 
says  that  he  could  only  be  resisted  indirectly,  because 
he  was  on  the  English  side  of  the  river.  This 

1  It  has  been  erroneously  stated  that  Beaubassin  was  burned 
by  its  own  inhabitants.  “  Laloutre,  ayant  vu  que  les  Acadiens  ne 
paroissoient  pas  fort  presses  d’abandonner  leurs  biens,  avoit  lui- 
meme  mis  le  feu  k  l’flglise,  et  l’avoit  fait  mettre  aux  maisons  des 
habitants  par  quelques-uns  de  ceux  qu’il  avoit  gagne's,”  etc. 
Mtmoires  sur  le  Canada,  1749-1760.  “Les  sauvages  y  mirent  le 
feu.”  Precis  des  Fails,  85.  “Les  sauvages  mirent  le  feu  aux 
maisons.”  Prdvost  au  Ministre,  22  Juillet,  1750. 


V 


122  CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754. 

indirect  resistance  was  undertaken  by  Le  Loutre, 
who  had  thrown  np  a  breastwork  along  the  shore 
and  manned  it  with  his  Indians  and  his  painted  and 
befeathered  Acadians.  Nevertheless  the  English 
landed,  and,  with  some  loss,  drove  out  the  defenders. 
Le  Loutre  himself  seems  not  to  have  been  among 
them;  but  they  kept  up  for  a  time  a  helter-skelter 
fight,  encouraged  by  two  other  missionaries,  Germain 
and  Lalerne,  who  were  near  being  caught  by  the 
English.1  Lawrence  quickly  routed  them,  took 
possession  of  the  cemetery,  and  prepared  to  fortify 
himself.  The  village  of  Beaubassin,  consisting,  it 
is  said,  of  a  hundred  and  forty  houses,  had  been 
burned  in  the  spring;  but  there  were  still  in  the 
neighborhood,  on  the  English  side,  many  hamlets 
and  farms,  with  barns  full  of  grain  and  hay. 
Le  Loutre ’s  Indians  now  threatened  to  plunder 
and  kill  the  inhabitants  if  they  did  not  take 
arms  against  the  English.  Few  complied,  and  the 
greater  part  fled  to  the  woods. ^  *  On  this  the  Indians 
and  their  Acadian  allies  set’the  houses  and  barns  on 
fire,  and  laid  waste  the  whole  district,  leaving  the 
inhabitants  no  choice  but  to  seek  food  and  shelter 

V 

with  the  French.3 


1  La  Vallifcre,  Journal  de  ce  qui  s’est  passe  a  Chenitou  [Chignecto] 
et  autres  parties  des  Frontieres  de  VAcadie,  1750-1751.  La  Valliere 

was  an  officer  on  the  spot. 

2  Pr boost  au  Ministre ,  27  Septembre,  1750. 

3  “Les  sauvages  et  Accadiens  mirent  le  feu  dans  toutes  les 
maisons  et  granges,  pleines  de  bled  et  de  fourrages,  ce  qui  a  caus<S 
une  grande  disette.”  —  La  Valliere,  ut  supra. 


1749-1754.] 


MURDER  OF  IIOWE. 


123 


The  English  fortified  themselves  on  a  low  hill  by 
the  edge  of  the  marsh,  planted  palisades,  built  bar¬ 
racks,  and  named  the  new  work  Fort  Lawrence. 
Slight  skirmishes  between  them  and  the  French  were 
frequent.  Neither  party  respected  the  dividing  line 
of  the  Missaguash,  and  a  petty  warfare  of  aggression 
and  reprisal  began,  and  became  chronic.  Before  the 
end  of  the  autumn  there  was  an  atrocious  act  of 
treachery.  Among  the  English  officers  was  Captain 
Edward  Howe,  an  intelligent  and  agreeable  person, 
who  spoke  French  fluently,  and  had  been  long  sta¬ 
tioned  in  the  province.  Le  Loutre  detested  him, 
dreading  his  influence  over  the  Acadians,  by  many 
of  whom  he  was  known  and  liked.  One  morning, 
at  about  eight  o’clock,  the  inmates  of  Fort  Lawrence 
saw  what  seemed  an  officer  from  Beausdjour,  carrying 
a  flag,  and  followed  by  several  men  in  uniform,  wad¬ 
ing  through  the  sea  of  grass  that  stretched  beyond 
the  Missaguash.  When  the  tide  was  out,  this  river 
was  but  an  ugly  trench  of  reddish  mud  gashed  across 
the  face  of  the  marsh,  with  a  thread  of  half-fluid 
slime  lazily  crawling  along  the  bottom ;  but  at  high 
tide  it  was  filled  to  the  brim  with  an  opaque  torrent 
that  would  have  overflowed,  but  for  the  dikes  thrown 
up  to  confine  it.  Behind  the  dike  on  the  farther 
bank  stood  the  seeming  officer,  waving  his  flag  in 
sign  that  he  desired  a  parley.  He  was  in  reality  no 
officer,  but  one  of  Le  Loutre’s  Indians  in  disguise, 
Etienne  Le  Batard,  or,  as  others  say,  the  great  chief, 
Jean-Baptiste  Cope.  Howe,  carrying  a  white  flag, 


124 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754. 


and  accompanied  by  a  few  officers  and  men,  went 
towards  the  river  to  hear  what  he  had  to  say.  As 
they  drew  near,  his  looks  and  language  excited  their 
suspicion.  But  it  was  too  late  i  for  a  number  of 
Indians,  who  had  hidden  behind  the  dike  during  the 
night,  fired  upon  Howe  across  the  stream,  and  mor¬ 
tally  wounded  him.  They  continued  their  fire  on  his 
companions,  but  could  not  prevent  them  from  carry¬ 
ing  the  dying  man  to  the  fort.  The  French  officers, 
indignant  at  this  villany,  did  not  hesitate  to  charge 
it  upon  Le  Loutre;  “for,”  says  one  of  them,  “what  is 
not  a  wicked  priest  capable  of  doing  ?  ”  But  Le 
Loutre’s  brother  missionary,  Maillard,  declares  that 
it  was  purely  an  effect  of  religious  zeal  on  the  part  of 
the  Micmacs,  who,  according  to  him,  bore  a  deadly 
grudge  against  Howe  because,  fourteen  years  before, 
he  had  spoken  words  disrespectful  to  the  Holy 
Virgin.1  Maillard  adds  that  the  Indians  were  much 
pleased  with  what  they  had  done.  Finding,  how¬ 
ever,  that  they  could  effect  little  against  the  English 
troops,  they  changed  their  field  of  action,  repaired  to 
the  outskirts  of  Halifax,  murdered  about  thirty 
settlers,  and  carried  off  eight  or  ten  prisoners. 

Strong  reinforcements  came  from  Canada.  The 


1  Maillard,  Les  Missions  Micmaques.  On  the  murder  Howe, 
Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia,  194,  195,  210 ;  Mtmoires  sur  le 
Canada,  1749-1760,  where  it  is  said  that  Le  Loutre  was  present  at 
the  deed ;  La  Vallifere,  Journal,  who  says  that  some  Acadians  took 
part  in  it ;  Depeches  de  La  Jonquiere,  who  says  “  les  sauvages  de 
1’Abbe  le  Loutre  Font  tue  par  trahison ;  ”  and  Prevost  au  Ministre, 
27  Octobre,  1750. 


1749-1754.]  HARSHNESS  OF  LE  LOUTRE. 


125 


French  began  a  fort  on  the  hill  of  Beaus4jour,  and 
the  Acadians  were  required  to  work  at  it  with  no 
compensation  but  rations.  They  were  thinly  clad, 
some  had  neither  shoes  nor  stockings,  and  winter  was 
begun.  They  became  so  dejected  that  it  was  found 
absolutely  necessary  to  give  them  wages  enough  to 
supply  their  most  pressing  needs.  In  the  following 
season  Fort  Beausdjour  was  in  a  state  to  receive  a 
garrison.  It  stood  on  the  crown  of  the  hill,  and  a 
vast  panorama  stretched  below  and  around  it.  In 
front  lay  the  Bay  of  Chignecto,  winding  along  the 
fertile  shores  of  Chipody  and  Memeramcook.  Far 
on  the  right  spread  the  great  Tantemar  marsh;  on 
the  left  lay  the  marsh  of  the  Missaguash ;  and  on  a 
knoll  beyond  it,  not  three  miles  distant,  the  red  flag 
of  England  waved  over  the  palisades  of  Fort 
Lawrence,  while  hills  wrapped  in  dark  forests 
bounded  the  horizon. 

How  the  homeless  Acadians  from  Beaubassin  lived 
through  the  winter  is  not  very  clear.  They  probably 
found  shelter  at  Chipody  and  its  neighborhood, 
where  there  were  thriving  settlements  of  their 
countrymen.  Le  Loutre,  fearing  that  they  would 
return  to  their  lands  and  submit  to  the  English,  sent 
some  of  them  to  Isle  St.  Jean.  “They  refused  to 
go,”  snys  a  French  writer;  “but  he  compelled  them 
at  last,  by  threatening  to  make  the  Indians  pillage 
them,  carry  off  their  wives  and  children,  and  even 
kill  them  before  their  eyes.  Nevertheless  he  kept 
about  him  such  as  were  most  submissive  to  his 


126 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754. 


will.”1  In  the  spring  after  the  English  occupied 
Beaubassin,  La  Jonquiere  issued  a  strange  proclama¬ 
tion.  It  commanded  all  Acadians  to  take  forthwith 
an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  King  of  France,  and  to 
enroll  themselves  in  the  French  militia,  on  pain  of 
being  treated  as  rebels.2  Three  years  after,  Law¬ 
rence,  who  then  governed  the  province,  proclaimed 
in  his  turn  that  all  Acadians  who  had  at  any  time 
sworn  fidelity  to  the  King  of  England,  and  who 
should  be  found  in  arms  against  him,  would  be 
treated  as  criminals.3  Thus  were  these  unfortunates 
ground  between  the  upper  and  nether  mill-stones. 
Le  L outre  replied  to  this  proclamation  of  Lawrence 
by  a  letter  in  which  he  outdid  himself.  He  declared 
that  any  of  the  inhabitants  who  had  crossed  to  the 
French  side  of  the  line,  and  who  should  presume  to 
return  to  the  English,  would  be  treated  as  enemies 
by  his  Micmacs ;  and  in  the  name  of  these,  his  Indian 
adherents,  he  demanded  that  the  entire  eastern  half 
of  the  Acadian  peninsula,  including  the  ground  on 
which  Fort  Lawrence  stood,  should  be  at  once  made 
over  to  their  sole  use  and  sovereign  ownership,4  — 
“which  being  read  and  considered,”  says  the  record 
of  the  Halifax  Council,  “the  contents  appeared  too 
insolent  and  absurd  to  be  answered.” 

1  Mdmoires  sur  le  Canada,  1749-1700. 

2  Ordonnance  du  12  Avril,  1751. 

8  Dcrit  donnd  aux  Habitants  refug  ids  a  Beausdjour,  10  A  out,  1754. 

4  Copie  de  la  Letlre  de  M.  I’Abbd  Le  Loutre,  Pretre  Missionnaire 
des  Sauvages  de  V Accadie,  r  M.  Lawrence  a  Halifax,  26  Aout,  1754. 
There  is  a  translation  in  Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia. 


1749-1754.]  COMPLAINTS  OF  ACADIANS. 


127 


The  number  of  Acadians  who  had  crossed  the  line 
and  were  collected  about  Beaus^jour  was  now  large. 
Their  countrymen  of  Chipody  began  to  find  them  a 
burden,  and  they  lived  chiefly  on  government  rations. 
Le  Loutre  had  obtained  fifty  thousand  livres  from 
the  court  in  order  to  dike  in,  for  their  use,  the  fertile 
marshes  of  Memeramcook ;  but  the  relief  was  distant, 
and  the  misery  pressing.  They  complained  that  they 
had  been  lured  over  the  line  by  false  assurances,  and 
they  applied  secretly  to  the  English  authorities  to 
learn  if  they  would  be  allowed  to  return  to  their 
homes.  The  answer  was  that  they  might  do  so  with 
full  enjoyment  of  religion  and  property,  if  they 
would  take  a  simple  oath  of  fidelity  and  loyalty  to 
the  King  of  Great  Britain,  qualified  by  an  oral  inti¬ 
mation  that  they  would  not  be  required  for  the 
present  to  bear  arms.1  When  Le  Loutre  heard  this, 
he  mounted  the  pulpit,  broke  into  fierce  invectives, 
threatened  the  terrified  people  with  excommunica¬ 
tion,  and  preached  himself  into  a  state  of  exhaustion.2 
The  military  commandant  at  Beausdjour  used  gentler 
means  of  prevention;  and  the  Acadians,  unused  for 
generations  to  think  or  act  for  themselves,  remained 
restless,  but  indecisive,  waiting  till  fate  should  settle 
for  them  the  question,  under  which  king  ? 

Meanwhile,  for  the  past  three  years,  the  commis¬ 
sioners  appointed  under  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Cliapelle 

1  Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia,  205,  209. 

2  Compare  Mtmoires ,  1749-1760,  and  Public  Documents  of  Nova 
Scotia,  229,  230. 


128  CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754. 

to  settle  the  question  of  boundaries  between  France 
and  England  in  America  had  been  in  session  at  Paris, 
waging  interminable  war  on  paper ;  La  Galissoniere 
and  Silhouette  for  France,  Shirley  and  Mildmay  for 
England.  By  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  Acadia  belonged 
to  England ;  but  what  was  Acadia?  According  to 
the  English  commissioners,  it  comprised  not  only  the 
peninsula  now  called  Nova  Scotia,  but  all  the  im¬ 
mense  tract  of  land  between  the  river  St.  Lawrence 
on  the  north,  the  gulf  of  the  same  name  on  the  east, 
the  Atlantic  on  the  south,  and  New  England  on  the 
west.1  The  French  commissioners,  on  their  part, 
maintained  that  the  name  Acadia  belonged  of  right 
only  to  about  a  twentieth  part  of  this  territory,  and 
that  it  did  not  even  cover  the  whole  of  the  Acadian 
peninsula,  but  only  its  southern  coast,  with  an 
adjoining  belt  of  barren  wilderness.  When  the 
French  owned  Acadia,  they  gave  it  boundaries  as 
comprehensive  as  those  claimed  for  it  by  the  English 
commissioners ;  now  that  it  belonged  to  a  rival,  they 
cut  it  down  to  a  paring  of  its  former  self.  The 
denial  that  Acadia  included  the  whole  peninsula  was 
dictated  by  the  need  of  a  winter  communication 
between  Quebec  and  Cape  Breton,  which  was  pos¬ 
sible  only  with  the  eastern  portions  in  French  hands. 
So  new  was  this  denial  that  even  La  Galissoniere 

i  The  commission  of  De  Monts,  in  1603,  defines  Acadia  as  ex¬ 
tending  from  the  fortieth  to  the  forty-sixth  degrees  of  latitude,  — 
that  is,  from  central  New  Brunswick  to  southern  Pennsylvania, 
Neither  party  cared  to  produce  the  document. 


1749-1754.]  THE  BOUNDARY  COMMISSION.  129 

himself,  the  foremost  in  making  it,  had  declared 
without  reservation  two  years  before  that  Acadia  was 
the  entire  peninsula.1  “If,”  says  a  writer  on  the 
question,  “  we  had  to  do  with  a  nation  more  tractabld, 
less  grasping,  and  more  conciliatory,  it  would  be 
well  to  insist  also  that  Halifax  should  be  given  up  to 
us.”  He  thinks  that,  on  the  whole,  it  would  be  well 
to  make  the  demand  in  any  case,  in  order  to  gain 
some  other  point  by  yielding  this  one.2  It  is  curious 
that  while  denying  that  the  country  was  Acadia,  the 
French  invariably  called  the  inhabitants  Acadians. 
Innumerable  public  documents,  commissions,  grants, 
treaties,  edicts,  signed  by  French  kings  and  minis¬ 
ters,  had  recognized  Acadia  as  extending  over  New 
Brunswick  and  a  part  of  Maine.  Four  censuses  of  1 
Acadia  while  it  belonged  to  the  French  had  recog¬ 
nized  the  mainland  as  included  in  it;  and  so  do  also 
the  early  French  maps.  Its  prodigious  shrinkage 
was  simply  the  consequence  of  its  possession  by  an 
alien. 

Other  questions  of  limits,  more  important  and 
equally  perilous,  called  loudly  for  solution.  What 
line  should  separate  Canada  and  her  western  depend¬ 
encies  from  the  British  colonies  ?  V arious  principles 
of  demarcation  were  suggested,  of  which  the  most 
prominent  on  the  French  side  was  a  geographical 


Ij  Acadie  suivant  ses  anciennes  limites  est  la  presqmsle 
bornee  par  son  istlime  ”  La  Galissonniere  au  Ministre ,  25  Juillet, 
1749.  The  English  commissioners  were,  of  course,  ignorant  of 
this  admission. 

2  Mtmoire  de  I’Abbd  de  VIsle-Dieu,  1753  (1754?). 

VOL.  I.  —  9 


180 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754. 

one.  All  countries  watered  by  streams  falling  into 
tlie  St.  Lawrence,  the  Great  Lakes,  and  the  Mississippi 
were  to  belong  to  her.  This  would  have  planted  her 
1  in  the  heart  of  New  York  and  along  the  crests  of  the 
Alleghanies,  giving  her  all  the  interior  of  the  conti¬ 
nent,  and  leaving  nothing  to  England  but  a  strip  of 
sea-coast.  Yet  in  view  of  what  France  had  achieved  ; 
of  the  patient  gallantry  of  her  explorers,  the  zeal  of 
her  missionaries,  the  adventurous  hardihood  of  her 
bushrangers,  revealing  to  civilized  mankind  the 
existence  of  this  wilderness  world,  while  her  rivals 
plodded  at  their  workshops,  their  farms,  or  their 
fisheries,  —  in  view  of  all  this,  her  pretensions  were 
moderate  and  reasonable  compared  with  those  of 
England.  iThe  treaty  of  Utrecht  had  declared  the 
Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations,  to  be  British  subjects  5 
therefore  it  was  insisted  that  all  countries  conquered 
by  them  belonged  to  the  British  Crowmy  But  what 
was  an  Iroquois  conquest?  The  Iroquois  rarely 
occupied  the  countries  they  overran.  Their  military 
expeditions  were  mere  raids,  great  or  small.  Some¬ 
times,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Hurons,  they  made  a  soli¬ 
tude  and  called  it  peace ;  again,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Illinois,  they  drove  off  the  occupants  of  the  soil,  who 
returned  after  the  invaders  were  gone.  But  the 
range  of  their  war-parties  was  prodigious;  and  the 
English  laid  claim  to  every  mountain,  forest,  or 
prairie  where  an  Iroquois  had  taken  a  scalp.  This 
would  give  them  not  only  the  country  between  the 
Alleghanies  and  the  Mississippi,  but  also  that 


1749-1754.]  FAILURE  OF  COMMISSION. 


131 


between  Lake  Huron  and  the  Ottawa,  thus  reducing 
Canada  to  the  patch  on  the  American  map  now 
represented  by  the  province  of  Quebec,  —  or  rather, 
by  a  part  of  it,  since  the  extension  of  Acadia  to  the 
St.  Lawrence  would  cut  off  the  present  counties  of 
Gaspd,  Rimouski,  and  Bonaventure.  Indeed,  among, 
the  advocates  of  British  claims  there  were  those  who 
denied  that  France  had  any  rights  whatever  on  the 
south  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence.1  Such  being  the 
attitude  of  the  two  contestants,  it  was  plain  that 
there  was  no  resort  but  the  last  argument  of  kings. 
Peace  must  be  won  with  the  sword. 

The  commissioners  at  Paris  broke  up  their  ses¬ 
sions,  leaving  as  the  monument  of  their  toils  four 
quarto  volumes  of  allegations,  arguments,  and  docu¬ 
mentary  proofs.2  Out  of  the  discussion  rose  also  a 
swarm  of  fugitive  publications  in  French,  English, 
and  Spanish;  for  the  question  of  American  bounda- 

1  The  extent  of  British  claims  is  best  shown  on  two  maps  of 
the  time,  Mitchell’s  Map  of  the  British  and  French  Dominions  in 
North  America  and  Huske’s  New  and  Accurate  Map  of  North 
America ;  both  are  in  the  British  Museum.  Dr.  John  Mitchell,  in 
his  Contest  in  America  (London,  1757),  pushes  the  English  claim  to 
its  utmost  extreme,  and  denies  that  the  French  were  rightful 
owners  of  anything  in  North  America  except  the  town  of  Quebec 
and  the  trading-post  of  Tadoussac.  Besides  the  claim  founded 
on  the  subjection  of  the  Iroquois  to  the  British  Crown,  the  Eng¬ 
lish  somewhat  inconsistently  advanced  others  founded  on  titles 
obtained  by  treaty  from  these  same  tribes,  and  others  still,  founded 
on  the  original  grants  of  some  of  the  colonies,  which  ran  indefi¬ 
nitely  westward  across  the  continent. 

2  Memoir es  des  Commissaires  de  Sa  Majeste  Tres  Chr&tienne  et  de 
ceux  de  Sa  Majesty  Brittanique.  Paris,  1755.  Several  editions 
appeared. 


132 


\ 


CONFLICT  FOR  ACADIA.  [1749-1754. 

ries  had  become  European.  There  was  one  among 
them  worth  notice  from  its  amusing  absurdity.  It  is 
an  elaborate  disquisition,  under  the  title  of  Roman 
politique,  by  an  author  faithful  to  the  traditions  of 
European  diplomacy,  and  inspired  at  the  same  time 
by  the  new  philosophy  of  the  school  of  Rousseau. 
He  insists  that  the  balance  of  power  must  be  pre¬ 
served  in  America  as  well  as  in  Europe,  because 
“Nature,”  “the  aggrandizement  of  the  human  soul,” 
and  the  “felicity  of  man”  are  unanimous  in  demand¬ 
ing  it.  The  English  colonies  are  more  populous  and 
wealthy  than  the  French;  therefore  the  French 
should  have  more  land,  to  keep  the  balance.  Nature, 
the  human  soul,  and  the  felicity  of  man  require  that 
France  should  own  all  the  country  beyond  the  Alle- 
ghanies  and  all  Acadia  but  a  strip  of  the  south  coast, 
according  to  the  “sublime  negotiations”  of  the 
French  commissioners,  of  which  the  writer  declares 
himself  a  “religious  admirer.”1 

We  know  already  that  France  had  used  means 
sharper  than  negotiation  to  vindicate  her  claim  to  the 
interior  of  the  continent;  had  marched  to  the  sources 
of  the  Ohio  to  intrench  herself  there,  and  hold  the 
passes  of  the  West  against  all  comers.  It  remains  to 
see  how  she  fared  in  her  bold  enterprise. 

i  Roman  politique  sur  I’Rtat  present  des  Affaires  de  VAm&ique 
(Amsterdam,  1756).  For  extracts  from  French  Documents,  see 
Appendix  B„ 


CHAPTER  V. 

1753,  1754. 

WASHINGTON. 

The  French  occupy  the  Sources  of  the  Ohio  :  their  Suf¬ 
ferings.  —  Fort  Le  Bgsuf. —  Eegardeur  de  Saint-Fierre. _ 

Mission  of  Washington.  —  Robert  Dinwiddie  :  he  op¬ 
poses  the  French  ;  his  Dispute  with  the  Burgesses  ; 
his  Energy  ;  his  Appeals  for  Help.  —  Fort  Duquesne. 

—  Death  of  Jumonville. —  Washington  at  the  Great 
Meadows.  —  Coulon  de  Villiers.  —  Fort  Necessity. 

Towards  the  end  of  spring  the  vanguard  of  the 
expedition  sent  by  Duquesne  to  occupy  the  Ohio 
landed  at  Presqu’isle,  where  Erie  now  stands.  This 
route  to  the  Ohio,  far  better  than  that  which  Cdloron 
had  followed,  was  a  new  discovery  to  the  French; 
and  Duquesne  calls  the  harbor  “the  finest  in  nature.” 
Here  they  built  a  fort  of  squared  chestnut  logs,  and  * 
when  it  was  finished  they  cut  a  road  of  several 
leagues  through  the  woods  to  Riviere  aux  Boeufs, 
now  French  Creek.  At  the  farther  end  of  this  road  / 
they  began  another  wooden  fort  and  called  it  Fort  Le 
Bceuf.  Thence,  when  the  water  was  high,  they 
could  descend  French  Creek  to  the  Alleghany,  and 
follow  that  stream  to  the  main  current  of  the  Ohio. 


134 


WASHINGTON. 


[1753. 


It  was  heavy  work  to  carry  the  cumbrous  load  of 
baggage  Across  the  portages.  Much  of  it  is  said  to 
have  bqen  superfluous,  consisting  of  velvets,  silks, 
and  other  useless  and  costly  articles,  sold  to  the  King 
at  enormous  prices  as  necessaries  of  the  expedition.1 
The  weight  of  the  task  fell  on  the  Canadians,  who 
worked  with  cheerful  hardihood,  and  did  their  part 
to  admiration.  Marin,  commander  of  the  expedition, 
a  gruff,  choleric  old  man  of  sixty-three,  hut  full  of 
force  and  capacity,  spared  himself  so  little  that  he 
was  struck  down  with  dysentery,  and,  refusing  to  be 
sent  home  to  Montreal,  was  before  long  in  a  dying 
state.  His  place  was  taken  by  P^an,  of  whose 
private  character  there  is  little  good  to  be  said,  but 
^whose  conduct  as  an  officer  was  such  that  Duquesne 
calls  him  a  prodigy  of  talents,  resources,  apd  zeal.2 
The  subalterns  deserve  no  such  praise.  They  dis¬ 
liked  the  service,  and  made  no  secret  of  their  discon¬ 
tent.  Rumors  of  it  filled  Montreal;  and  Duquesne 
wrote  to  Marin :  “lam  surprised  that  you  have  not 
told  me  of  this  change.  Take  note  of  the  sullen  and 
discouraged  faces  about  you.  This  sort  are  worse 
than  useless.  Rid  yourself  of  them  at  once;  send 
them  to  Montreal,  that  I  may  make  an  example  of 
them.”3  P<3an  wrote  at  the  end  of  September  that 
Marin  was  in  extremity;  and  the  governor,  disturbed 

1  Pouchot,  Memoires  sur  la  derniere  Guerre  de  V  Amerique  Septen- 
trionale,  i.  8. 

2  Duquesne  au  Ministre,  2  Novembre,  1753 ;  compare  Memoire  pour 
j\fichel-Jean  Hugues  Pean. 

3  Duquesne  a  Marin,  27  A  out,  1753. 


1753.] 


EFFECTS  OF  EXPEDITION. 


135 


and  alarmed,  for  he  knew  the  value  of  the  sturdy  old 
officer,  looked  anxiously  for  a  successor.  He  chose 
another  veteran,  Legardeur  cle  Saint-Pierre,  who  had 
just  returned  from  a  journey  of  exploration  towards 
the  Rocky  Mountains,1  and  whom  Duquesne  now 
ordered  to  the  Ohio. 

Meanwhile  the  effects  of  the  expedition  had  already 

justified  it.  At  first  the  Indians  of  the  Ohio  had 

shown  a  bold  front.  One  of  them,  a  chief  whom  the 

English  called  the  Half-King,  came  to  Fort  Le  Boeuf 

and  ordered  the  French  to  leave  the  country,  but 

was  received  by  Marin  with  such  contemptuous 

haughtiness  that  he  went  home  shedding  tears  of 

rage  and  mortification.  The  western  tribes  were  y 

daunted.  The  Miamis,  but  yesterday  fast  friends  of 

the  English,  made  humble  submission  to  the  French, 

and  offered  them  two  English  scalps  to  signalize  their 

repentance;  while  the  Sacs,  Pottawattamies,  and 

Ojibwas  were  loud  in  professions  of  devotion.2  Even 

the  Iroquois,  Delawares,  and  Shawanoes  on  the  Alle- 

♦ 

ghany  had  come  to  the  French  camp  and  offered  their 
help  in  carrying  the  baggage.  It  needed  but  perse¬ 
verance  and  success  in  the  enterprise  to  win  over 
every  tribe  from  the  mountains  to  the  Mississippi. 

To  accomplish  this  and  to  curb  the  English,  Duquesne  /, 
had  planned  a  third  fort,  at  the  junction  of  French 

1  Memoir e  au  Journal  sommaire  du  Voyage  de  Jacques  Legardeur  de 
Saint-Pierre. 

2  Rapports  de  Conseils  avec  les  Sauvages  a  Montreal,  Juillet,  1753. 
Duquesne  au  Ministre,  31  Octobre,  1753.  Letter  of  Dr.  Shuekburgh  in 
TV.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  vi.  806. 


186 


K 


WASHINGTON". 


[1753. 


/ 


Creek  with  the  Alleghany,  or  at  some  point  lower 
down;  then,  leaving  the  three  posts  well  garrisoned, 
P4an  was  to  descend  the  Ohio  with  the  whole  remain¬ 
ing  force,  impose  terror  on  the  wavering  tribes,  and 
complete  their  conversion.  Both  plans  were  thwarted ; 
the  fort  was  not  built,  nor  did  Pdan  descend  the 
Ohio.  Fevers,  lung  diseases,  and  scurvy  made  such 
deadly  havoc  among  troops  and  Canadians  that  the 
dying  Marin  saw  with  bitterness  that  his  work  must 
be  left  half  done.  Three  hundred  of  the  best  men 
were  kept  to  garrison  Forts  Presqu’isle  andLe  Bceuf; 
and  then,  as  winter  approached,  the  rest  were  sent 
back  to  Montreal.  When  they  arrived,  the  gov¬ 
ernor  was  shocked  at  their  altered  looks.  “  I 
reviewed  them,  and  could  not  help  being  touched 
by  the  pitiable  state  to  which  fatigues  and  expos¬ 
ures  had  reduced  them.  Past  all  doubt,  if  these 
emaciated  figures  had  gone  down  the  Ohio  as  in¬ 
tended,  the  river  would  have  been  strewn  with 
corpses,  and  the  evil-disposed  savages  would  not  have 
failed  to  attack  the  survivors,  seeing  that  they  were 
but  spectres.”1 

Legardeur  de  Saint-Pierre  arrived  at  the  end  of 
autumn,  and  made  his  quarters  at  Fort  Le  Boeuf. 
The  surrounding  forests  had  dropped  their  leaves, 
and  in  gray  and  patient  desolation  bided  the  coming 
winter.  Chill  rains  drizzled  over  the  gloomy  “  clear- 

1  Duquesne  au  Ministre,  29  Novembre,  1753.  On  this  expedition, 
compare  the  letter  of  Duquesne  in  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  x.  255,  and  the 
deposition  of  Stephen  Coffen,  Ibid.,  vi.  835. 


1753.]  FORT  LE  BCEUF.  137 

ing,”  and  drenched  the  palisades  and  log-built  bar- 
iacks,  raw  from  the  axe.  Buried  in  the  wilderness, 
the  military  exiles  resigned  themselves  as  they  might 
to  months  of  monotonous  solitude;  when,  just  after 
sunset  on  the  eleventh  of  December,  a  tall  youth 
came  out  of  the  forest  on  horseback,  attended  by  a 
companion  much  older  and  rougher  than  himself, 
and  followed  by  several  Indians  and  four  or  five 
white  men  with  pack-horses.  Officers  from  the 
fort  went  out  to  meet  the  strangers ;  and,  wading 
through  mud  and  sodden  snow,  they  entered  at  the 
gate.  On  the  next  day  the  young  leader  of  the 
party,  with  the  help  of  an  interpreter,  for  he  spoke 
no  French,  had  an  interview  with  the  commandant, 
and  gave  him  a  letter  from  Governor  Dinwiddie./ 
Saint-Pierre  and  the  officer  next  in  rank,  who  knew 
a  little  English,  took  it  to  another  room  to  study 
it  at  their  ease ;  and  in  it,  all  unconsciously,  they 
read  a  name  destined  to  stand  one  of  the  noblest 
in  the  annals  of  mankind;  for  it  introduced  Major 
George  Washington,  Adjutant-General  of  the  Vir¬ 
ginia  militia.1 

Dinwiddie,  jealously  watchful  of  French  aggres¬ 
sion,  had  learned  through  traders  and  Indians  that  a 
strong  detachment  from  Canada  had  entered  the 
territories  of  the  King  of  England,  and  built  forts  on 
Lake  Erie  and  on  a  branch  of  the  Ohio.  He  wrote 
to  challenge  the  invasion  and  summon  the  invaders 
to  withdraw;  and  he  could  find  none  so  fit  to  bear 

1  Journal  of  Major  Washington.  Journal  of  Mr.  Christopher  Gist 


i 


138 


WASHINGTON. 


[1753. 


his  message  as  a  young  man  of  twenty-one.  It  was 
this  rough  Scotchman  who  launched  Washington  on 
his  illustrious  career. 

Washington  set  out  for  the  trading -station  of  the 
Ohio  Company  on  Will’s  Creek;  and  thence,  at  the 
middle  of  November,  struck  into  the  wilderness  with 
Christopher  Gist  as  a  guide,  Vanbraam,  a  Dutchman, 
as  French  interpreter,  Davison,  a  trader,  as  Indian 
interpreter,  and  four  woodsmen  as  servants.  They 
went  to  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  and  then  down  the 
river  to  Logstown,  the  Chiningu^  of  Cdloron  de 
Bienville.  There*  Washington  had  various  parleys 
with  the  Indians ;  and  thence,  after  vexations  delays, 
he  continued  his  journey  towards  Fort  Le  Bceuf, 
accompanied  by  the  friendly  chief  called  the  Half- 
King  and  by  three  of  his  tribesmen.  For  several 
days  they  followed  the  traders  path,  pelted  with 
unceasing  rain  and  snow,  and  came  at  last  to  the  old 
Indian  town  of  Venango,  where  French  Creek  enters 
the  Alleghany.  Here  there  was  an  English  trading- 
house  ;  but  the  French  had  seized  it,  raised  their  flag 
over  it,  and  turned  it  into  a  military  outpost,1  Jon- 
caire  was  in  command,  with  two  subalterns ;  and 
nothing  could  exceed  their  civility.  They  invited 
the  strangers  to  supper ;  and,  says  W ashington,  “  the 
wine,  as  they  dosed  themselves  pretty  plentifully 

i  Marin  had  sent  sixty  men  in  August  to  seize  the  house,  which 
belonged  to  the  trader  Fraser.  Depeches  de  Duquesne.  They  car¬ 
ried  off  two  men  whom  they  found  here.  Letter  of  Fraser  in 
Colonial  Records  of  Pa.f  v.  t>59, 


1753.]  DINWIDDIE’S  LETTER.  139 

with  it,  soon  banished  the  restraint  which  at  first 
appeared  in  their  conversation,  and  gave  a  license  to 
their  tongues  to  reveal  their  sentiments  more  freely. 
They  told  me  that  it  was  their  absolute  design  to 
take  possession  of  the  Ohio,  and,  by  G— ,  they 
would  do  it;  for  that  although  they  were  sensible  the 
English  could  raise  two  men  for  their  one,  yet  they 
knew  their  motions  were  too  slow  and  dilatory  to 
prevent  any  undertaking  of  theirs.”1 

With  all  their  civility,  the  French  officers  did 
their  best  to  entice  away  Washington’s  Indians;  and 
it  was  with  extreme  difficulty  that  he  could  persuade 
them  to  go  with  him.  Through  marshes  and  swamps; 
forests  choked  with  snow,  and  drenched  with  inces¬ 
sant  rain,  they  toiled  on  for  four  days  more,  till  the 
wooden  walls  of  Fort  Le  Boeuf  appeared  at  last,  sur¬ 
rounded  by  fields  studded  thick  with  stumps,  and 
half-encircled  by  the  chill  current  of  French  Creek, 
along  the  banks  of  which  lay  more  than  two  hundred 
canoes,  ready  to  carry  troops  in  the  spring.  Wash¬ 
ington  describes  Legardeur  de  Saint-Pierre  as  “an 
elderly  gentleman  with  much  the  air  of  a  soldier.” 
The  letter  sent  him  by  Dinwiddie  expressed  astonish-  X 
ment  that  his  troops  should  build  forts  upon  lands 
“so  notoriously  known  to  be  the  property  of  the 
Crown  of  Great  Britain.”  “I  must  desire  you,” 
continued  the  letter,  “  to  acquaint  me  by  whose 
authority  and  instructions  you  have  lately  marched 

1  Journal  of  Washington ,  as  printed  at  Williamsburg,  just  after 
his  return. 


140 


WASHINGTON. 


[1753. 


from  Canada  with  an  armed  force,  and  invaded  the 
King  of  Great  Britain’s  territories.  It  becomes  my 
duty  to  require  your  peaceable  departure;  and  that 
you  would  forbear  prosecuting  a  purpose  so  inter- 
ruptive  of  the  harmony  and  good  understanding 
which  His  Majesty  is  desirous  to  continue  and  culti¬ 
vate  with  the  Most  Christian  King.  I  persuade 
myself  you  will  receive  and  entertain  Major  Washing¬ 
ton  with  the  candor  and  politeness  natural  to  youi 
nation ;  and  it  will  give  me  the  greatest  satisfaction 
if  you  return  him  with  an  answer  suitable  to  my 
wishes  for  a  very  long  and  lasting  peace  between  us.” 

Saint-Pierre  took  three  days  to  frame  the  answer. 
In  it  he  said  that  he  should  send  Dinwiddie’s  letter 
to  the  Marquis  Duquesne  and  wait  his  orders ;  and 
that  meanwhile  he  should  remain  at  his  post,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  commands  of  his  general.  “  I  made  it  my 
particular  care,”  so  the  letter  closed,  to  receive  Mr. 
Washington  with  a  distinction  suitable  to  your  dig¬ 
nity  as  well  as  his  own  quality  and  great  merit.  1 
No  form  of  courtesy  had,  in  fact,  been  wanting. 
“He  appeared  to  be  extremely  complaisant,”  says 
Washington,  “  though  he  was  exerting  every  artifice 
to  set  our  Indians  at  variance  with  us.  I  saw  that 
every  stratagem  was  practised  to  win  the  Half-King 
to  their  interest.”  Neither  gifts  nor  brandy  were 
spared;  and  it  was  only  by  the  utmost  pains  that 

1  “La  Distinction  qui  convient  a  votre  Dignitte  k  sa  Quality  et  a 
son  grand  Merite.”  Copy  of  original  letter  sent  by  Dinwiddie  to 
Governor  Hamilton. 


1754.] 


ON  THE  ALLEGHANY. 


141 


Washington  could  prevent  his  red  allies  from  staying 
at  the  fort,  conquered  by  French  blandishments. 

After  leaving  Venango  on  his  return,  he  found  the 
horses  so  weak  that,  to  arrive  the  sooner,  he  left 
them  and  their  drivers  in  charge  of  Vanbraam  and 
pushed  forward  on  foot,  accompanied  by  Gist  alone. 
Each  was  wrapped  to  the  throat  in  an  Indian  “  match- 
coat,”  with  a  gun  in  his  hand  and  a  pack  at  his  back. 
Passing  an  old  Indian  hamlet  called  Murdering 
Town,  they  had  an  adventure  which  threatened  to 
make  good  the  name.  A  French  Indian,  whom  they 
met  in  the  forest,  fired  at  them,  pretending  that  his 
gun  had  gone  off  by  chance.  They  caught  him,  and 
Gist  would  have  killed  him ;  but  Washington  inter¬ 
posed,  and  they  let  him  go.1  Then,  to  escape  pur¬ 
suit  from  his  tribesmen,  they  walked  all  night  and  all 
the  next  day.  This  brought  them  to  the  banks  of 
the  Alleghany.  They  hoped  to  have  found  it  dead 
frozen;  but  it  was  all  alive  and  turbulent,  filled  with 
ice  sweeping  down  the  current.  They  made  a  raft, 
shoved  out  into  the  stream,  and  were  soon  caught 
helplessly  in  the  drifting  ice.  Washington,  pushing 
hard  with  his  setting-pole,  was  jerked  into  the  freez¬ 
ing  river,  but  caught  a  log  of  the  raft,  and  dragged 
himself  out.  By  no  efforts  could  they  reach  the 
farther  bank,  or  regain  that  which  they  had  left;  but 
they  were  driven  against  an  island,  where  they 
landed,  and  left  the  raft  to  its  fate.  The  night  was 

1  Journal  of  Mr.  Christopher  Gist,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.  3rd 
Series,  v. 


142 


WASHINGTON. 


[1753. 


excessively  cold,  and  Gist’s  feet  and  hands  were 
badly  frost-bitten.  In  the  morning,  the  ice  had  set, 
and  the  river  was  a  solid  floor.  They  crossed  it,  and 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  house  of  the  trader  Fraser, 
on  the  Monongahela.  It  was  the  middle  of  January 
when  Washington  arrived  at  Williamsburg  and  made 
his  report  to  Dinwiddie. 

^Robert  Dinwiddie  was  lieutenant-governor  of 
Virginia,  in  place  of  the  titular  governor,  Lord 
Albemarle,  whose  post  was  a  sinecure.  He  had  been 
clerk  in  a  government  office  in  the  West  Indies; 
then  surveyor  of  customs  in  the  “Old  Dominion,” 
—  a  position  in  which  he  made  himself  cordially  dis¬ 
liked;  and  when  he  rose  to  the  governorship  he 
carried  his  unpopularity  with  him.  Yet  Virginia 
and  all  the  British  colonies  owed  him  much;  for, 
though  past  sixty,  he  was  the  most  watchful  sentinel 
against  French  aggression  and  its  most  strenuous 
opponent  Scarcely  had  Marin’s  vanguard  appeared 
at  Presqu’isle,  when  Dinwiddie  warned  the  home 
government  of  the  danger,  and  urged,  what  he  had 
before  urged  in  vain  on  the  Virginian  Assembly,  the 
immediate  building  of  forts  on  the  Ohio.  There 
came  in  reply  a  letter,  signed  by  the  King,  authoriz¬ 
ing  him  to  build  the  forts  at  the  cost  of  the  colony, 
and  to  repel  force  by  force  in  case  he  was  molested 
or  obstructed.  Moreover,  the  King  wrote:  “If  you 
shall  find  that  any  number  of  persons  shall  presume 
to  erect  any  fort  or  forts  within  the  limits  of  our 
province  of  Virginia,  you  are  first  to  require  of  them 


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1753.] 


DISPUTE  WITH  BURGESSES. 


143 


peaceably  to  depart;  and  if,  notwithstanding  your 
admonitions,  they  do  still  endeavor  to  carry  out  any 
such  unlawful  and  unjustifiable  designs,  we  do  hereby 
strictly  charge  and  command  you  to  drive  them  off 
by  force  of  arms.”1 

The  order  was  easily  given ;  but  to  obey  it  needed 
men  and  money,  and  for  these  Dinwiddie  was 
dependent  on  his  Assembly,  or  House  of  Burgesses. 
He  convoked  them  for  the  first  of  November,  sending 
Washington  at  the  same  time  with  the  summons  to 
Saint-Pierre.  The  burgesses  met.  Dinwiddie  ex¬ 
posed  the  danger,  and  asked  for  means  to  meet  it.2 
*They  seemed  more  than  willing  to  comply;  but 
deba'tes  presently  arose  concerning  the  fee  of  a  pistole, 
which  the  governor  had  demanded  on  each  patent  of 
land  issued  by  him.  The  amount  was  trifling,  but 
the  principle  was  doubtful.  The  aristocratic  republic 
of  Virginia  was  intensely  jealous  of  the  slightest 
encroachment  on  its  rights  by  the  Crown  or  its  repre¬ 
sentative.  The  governor  defended  the  fee.  The 
burgesses  replied  that  “subjects  cannot  be  deprived 
of  the  least  part  of  their  property  without  their  con¬ 
sent,”  declared  the  fee  unlawful,  and  called  on  Din¬ 
widdie  to  confess  it  to  be  so.  He  still  defended  it. 
They  saw  in  his  demand  for  supplies  a  means  of 
bringing  him  to  terms,  and  refused  to  grant  money 
unless  he  would  recede  from  his  position.  Dinwiddie 

1  Instructions  to  Our  Trusty  and  Well-beloved  Robert  Dinwiddie,  Esq., 
28  August,  1753. 

2  Address  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Dinwiddie  to  the  Council  and  Bur 
gesses,  1  November,  1753. 


144 


WASHINGTON. 


[1753. 


rebuked  them  for  “  disregarding  the  designs  of  the 
French,  and  disputing  the  rights  of  the  Crown;  ”  and 
he  “prorogued  them  in  some  anger.”  1 

Thus  he  was  unable  to  obey  the  instructions  of  the 
King.  As  a  temporary  resource,  he  ventured  to 
order  a  draft  of  two  hundred  men  from  the  militia. 
Washington  was  to  have  command,  with  the  trader, 
William  Trent,  as  his  lieutenant.  His  orders  were 
to  push  with  all  speed  to  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  and 
there  build  a  fort;  “but  in  case  any  attempts  are 
made  to  obstruct  the  works  by  any  persons  whatso¬ 
ever,  to  restrain  all  such  offenders,  and,  in  case  of 
resistance,  to  make  prisoners  of,  or  kill  and  destroy 
them.”2  The  governor  next  sent  messengers  to  the 
Catawbas,  Cherokees,  Chickasaws,  and  Iroquois  of 
the  Ohio,  inviting  them  to  take  up  the  hatchet  against 
the  French,  “  who,  under  pretence  of  embracing 
you,  mean  to  squeeze  you  to  death.”  Then  he  wrote 
urgent  letters  to  the  governors  of  Pennsylvania,  the 
Carolinas,  Maryland,  and  New  Jersey,  begging  for 
contingents  of  men,  to  be  at  Will’s  Creek  in  March  at 
the  latest.  But  nothing  could  be  done  without 
money;  and  trusting  for  a  change  of  heart  on  the 
part  of  the  burgesses,  he  summoned  them  to  meet 
again  on  the  fourteenth  of  February.  “  If  they  come 
in  good  temper,”  he  wrote  to  Lord  Fairfax,  a  noble¬ 
man  settled  in  the  colony,  “  I  hope  they  will  lay  a 
fund  to  qualify  me  to  send  four  or  five  hundred  men 

1  Dinvoiddie  Papers. 

2  Ibid.  Instructions  to  Major  George  Washington,  January,  1754 


DINWIDDIE  TO  II ANBURY. 


1753.] 


145 


more  to  the  Ohio,  which,  with  the  assistance  of  our 
neighboring  colonies,  may  make  some  figure.” 

The  session  began.  Again,  somewhat  oddly,  yet 
forcibly,  the  governor  set  before  the  Assembly  the^  , 
peril  of  the  situation,  and  begged  them  to  postpone 
less  pressing  questions  to  the  exigency  of  the  hour.1 
This  time  they  listened,  and  voted  ten  thousand  X 
pounds  in  Virginia  currency  to  defend  the  frontier. 
The  grant  was  frugal,  and  they  jealously  placed  its 
expenditure  in  the  hands  of  a  committee  of  their 
own.2  Dinwiddie,  writing  to  the  Lords  of  Trade, 
pleads  necessit}^  as  his  excuse  for  submitting  to  their 
terms.  “I  am  sorry,”  he  says,  “to  find  them  too 
much  in  a  republican  way  of  thinking.”  What 
vexed  him  still  more  was  their  sending  an  agent  to 
England  to  complain  against  him  on  the  irrepressible 
question  of  the  pistole  fee;  and  he  writes  to  his 
London  friend,  the  merchant  Hanbury:  “I  have  had 
a  great  deal  of  trouble  from  the  factious  disputes  and 
violent  heats  of  a  most  impudent,  troublesome  party 
here  in  regard  to  that  silly  fee  of  a  pistole.  Surely 
every  thinking  man  will  make  a  distinction  between 
a  fee  and  a  tax.  Poor  people!  I  pity  their  igno¬ 
rance  and  narrow,  ill-natured  spirits.  But,  my 
friend,  consider  that  I  could  by  no  means  give  up 
this  fee  without  affronting  the  Board  of  Trade  and 
the  Council  here  who  established  it.”  His  thoughts  • 


1  Speech  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Dinwiddie  to  the  Council  and  Bur¬ 
gesses ,  14  February ,  1754. 

2  See  the  bill  in  Hening,  Statutes  of  Virginia,  vi.  417. 

YOL.  I.  —  10 


146 


WASHINGTON. 


[1754. 


were  not  all  of  this  harassing  nature,  and  he  ends  his 
letter  with  the  following  petition:  “Now,  sir,  as  His 
Majesty  is  pleased  to  make  me  a  military  officer, 
please  send  for  Scott,  my  tailor,  to  make  me  a  proper 
suit  of  regimentals,  to  be  here  by  His  Majesty’s 
birthday.  I  do  not  much  like  gayety  in  dress,  but  I 
conceive  this  necessary.  I  do  not  much  care  for  lace 
on  the  coat,  but  a  neat  embroidered  button-hole; 
though  you  do  not  deal  that  way,  I  know  you  have  a 
good  taste,  that  I  may  show  my  friend’s  fancy  in  that 
suit  of  clothes;  a  good  laced  hat  and  two  pair  stock- 
ings,  one  silk,  the  other  fine  thread.”1 

If  the  governor  and  his  English  sometimes  provoke 
a  smile,  he  deserves  admiration  for  the  energy  with 
which  he  opposed  the  public  enemy,  under  circum¬ 
stances  the  most  discouraging.  He  invited  the 
Indians  to  meet  him  in  council  at  Winchester,  and, 
as  bait  to  attract  them,  coupled  the  message  with  a 
promise  of  gifts.  He  sent  circulars  from  the  King 
to  the  neighboring  governors,  calling  for  supplies, 
and  wrote  letter  upon  letter  to  rouse  them  to  effort. 
He  wrote  also  to  the  more  distant  governors,  Delancey 
of  New  York,  and  Shirley  of  Massachusetts,  begging 
them  to  make  what  he  called  a  “  faint  ”  against 
Canada,  to  prevent  the  French  from  sending  so  large 
a  force  to  the  Ohio.  ]£was  to  the  nearer  colonies, 
from  New  Jersey  to  South  Carolina,  that  he  looked 
for  direct  aid;  and  their  several  governors  were  all 
more  or  less  active  to  procure  it ;  but  as  most  of  them 

1  Dinwiddie  to  Hanbury,  12  March,  1754 ;  Ibid.,  10  May,  1754. 


1754.] 


PROVINCIAL  APATHY. 


147 


had  some  standing  dispute  with  their  assemblies, 
they  could  get  nothing  except  on  terms  with  which 
they  would  not,  and  sometimes  could  not,  comply. 

As  the  lands  invaded  by  the  French  belonged  to  one  ^ 
of  the  two  rival  claimants,  Virginia  and  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  the  other  colonies  had  no  mind  to  vote  money 
to  defend  them.  Pennsylvania  herself  refused  to  -j-' 
move.  Hamilton,  her  governor,  could  do  nothing 
against  the  placid  obstinacy  of  the  Quaker  non- 
combatants  and  the  stolid  obstinacguof  the  German 
farmers  who  chiefly  made  up  his  Assembly.  North  \ 
Carolina  alone  answered  the  appeal,  and  gave  money^” 
enough  to  raise  three  or  four  hundred  men.  Two^ 
independent  companies  maintained  by  the  King  in 
New  York,  and  one  in  South  Carolina,  had  received 
orders  from  England  to  march  to  the  scene  of  action; 
and  in  these,  with  the  scanty  levies  of  his  own  and 
the  adjacent  province,  lay  Dinwiddie’s  only  hope. 
With  men  abundant  and  willing,  there  were  no 
means  to  put  them  into  the  field,  and  no  commander 
whom  they  would  all  obey. 

From  the  brick  house  at  Williamsburg  pompously 
called  the  Governor’s  Palace,  Dinwiddie  despatched 
letters,  orders,  couriers,  to  hasten  the  tardy  rein¬ 
forcements  of  North  Carolina  and  New  York,  and 
push  on  the  raw  soldiers  of  the  Old  Dominion,  who 
now  numbered  three  hundred  men.  They  were 
called  the  Virginia  regiment;  and  Joshua  Fry,  an 
English  gentleman,  bred  at  Oxford,  was  made  their 
colonel,  with  Washington  as  next  in  command- 


148 


WASHINGTON. 


[1754. 


Fry  was  at  Alexandria  with  half  the  so-called  regi¬ 
ment,  trying  to  get  it  into  marching  order;  Washing¬ 
ton,  with  the  other  half,  had  pushed  forward  to  the 
Ohio  Company’s  storehouse  at  Will’s  Creek,  which 
was  to  form  a  base  of  operations.  His  men  were 
poor  whites,  brave,  but  hard  to  discipline;  without 
tents,  ill  armed,  and  ragged  as  FalstafFs  recruits. 
Besides  these,  a  band  of  backwoodsmen  under  Cap- 
tain  Trent  had  crossed  the  mountains  in  February  to 
build  a  fort  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  where  Pittsburg 
now  stands, — a  spot  which  Washington  had  ex- 
4  amined  when  on  his  way  to  Fort  Le  Boeuf,  and  which 
he  had  reported  as  the  best  for  the  purpose.  The 
hope  was  that  Trent  would  fortify  himself  before  the 
arrival  of  the  French,  and  that  Washington  and  Fry 
would  join  him  in  time  to  secure  the  position.  Trent 
had  begun  the  fort,  but  for  some  unexplained  reason 
had  gone  back  to  Will’s  Creek,  leaving  Ensign  Ward 
with  forty  men  at  work  upon  it.  Their  labors  were 
suddenly  interrupted.  On  the  seventeenth  of  April 
*  a  swarm  of  bateaux  and  canoes  came  down  the  Alle° 
ghany,  bringing,  according  to  Ward,  more  than  a 
thousand  Frenchmen,  though  in  reality  not  much 
above  five  hundred,  who  landed,  planted  cannon 
against  the  incipient  stockade,  and  summoned  the 
ensign  to  surrender,  on  pain  of  what  might  ensue.1 
He  complied,  and  was  allowed  to  depart  with  his 
men.  Retracing  his  steps  over  the  mountains,  he 
reported  his  mishap  to  Washington;  while  the  French 
1  See  the  summons  in  Precis  des  Faits,  101. 


1754.]  DINWIDDIE’S  VEXATION.  149 

demolished  his  unfinished  fort,  began  a  much  larger  A 
and  better  one,  and  named  it  Fort  Duquesne. 

They  had  acted  with  their  usual  promptness. 
Their  governor,  a  practised  soldier,  knew  the  value 
of  celerity,  and  had  set  his  troops  in  motion  with 
the  first  opening  of  spring.  He  had  no  refractory 
assembly  to  hamper  him ;  no  lack  of  money,  for  the 
King  supplied  it ;  and  all  Canada  must  march  at  his 
bidding.  Thus,  while  Dinwiddle  was  still  toiling 
to  muster  his  raw  recruits,  Duquesne’s  lieutenant, 
Contrecceur,  successor  of  Saint-Pierre,  had  landed  at 
Presqu’isle  with  a  much  greater  force,  in  part  regu¬ 
lars,  and  in  part  Canadians. 

Dinwiddle  was  deeply  vexed  when  a  message  from 
Washington  told  him  how  his  plans  were  blighted; 
and  he  spoke  his  mind  to  his  friend  Hanbury:  “If 
our  Assembly  had  voted  the  money  in  November 
which  they  did  in  February,  it ’s  more  than  probable 
the  fort  would  have  been  built  and  garrisoned  before 
the  French  had  approached;  but  these  things  cannot 
be  done  without  money.  As  there  was  none  in  our 
treasury,  I  have  advanced  my  own  to  forward  the 
expedition;  and  if  the  independent  companies  from 
New  York  come  soon,  I  am  in  hopes  the  eyes  of  the 
other  colonies  will  be  opened;  and  if  they  grant  a 
proper  supply  of  men,  I  hope  we  shall  be  able  to 
dislodge  the  French  or  build  a  fort  on  that  river.  I 
congratulate  you  on  the  increase  of  your  family. 

My  wife  and  two  girls  join  in  our  most  sincere 
respects  to  good  Mrs.  Hanbury.”1 

1  Dinwiddie  to  Hanbury ,  10  May,  1754. 


150  WASHINGTON.  [1754. 

The  seizure  of  a  king’s  fort  by  planting  cannon 
against  it  and  threatening  it  with  destruction  was  in 
his  eyes  a  beginning  of  hostilities  on  the  part  of  the 
French;  and  henceforth  both  he  and  Washington 
acted  much  as  if  war  had  been  declared.  From  their 
station  at  Will’s  Creek,  the  distance  by  the  traders’ 
path  to  Fort  Duquesne  was  about  a  hundred  and 
forty  miles.  Midway  was  a  branch  of  the  Monon- 
gahela  called  Redstone  Creek,  at  the  mouth  of  which 
the  Ohio  Company  had  built  another  storehouse. 
Dinwiddie  ordered  all  the  forces  to  cross  the  moun¬ 
tains  and  assemble  at  this  point,  until  they  should  be 
strong  enough  to  advance  against  the  French.  The 
movement  was  critical  in  presence  of  an  enemy  as 
superior  in  discipline  as  he  was  in  numbers,  while 
the  natural  obstacles  were  great.  A  road  for  cannon 
and  wagons  must  be  cut  through  a  dense  forest  and 
over  two  ranges  of  high  mountains,  besides  countless 
hills  and  streams.  Washington  set  all  his  force  to 
the  work,  and  they  spent  a  fortnight  in  making 
twenty  miles.  Towards  the  end  of  May,  however, 
Dinwiddie  learned  that  he  had  crossed  the  main  ridge 
of  the  Alleghanies,  and  was  encamped  with  a  hundred 
and  fifty  men  near  the  parallel  ridge  of  Laurel  Hill, 
at  a  place  called  the  Great  Meadows.  Trent’s  back¬ 
woodsmen  had  gone  off  in  disgust;  Fry,  with  the 
rest  of  the  regiment,  was  still  far  behind ;  and 
Washington  was  daily  expecting  an  attack.  Close 
upon  this,  a  piece  of  good  news,  or  what  seemed 
such,  came  over  the  mountains  and  gladdened  the 


/ 


# 


1754.]  A  BLOW  STRUCK.  151 

heart  of  the  governor.  He  heard  that  a  French 
detachment  had  tried  to  surprise  Washington,  and 
that  he  had  killed  or  captured  the  whole.  The  facts 
were  as  follows. 

Washington  was  on  the  Youghiogany,  a  branch  of 
the  Monongahela,  exploring  it  in  hopes  that  it  might 
prove  navigable,  when  a  messenger  came  to  him  from 
his  old  comrade,  the  Half-King,  who  was  on  the  way 
to  join  him.  The  message  was  to  the  effect  that  the 
French  had  marched  from  their  fort,  and  meant  to 
attack  the  first  English  they  should  meet.  A  report 
came  soon  after  that  they  were  already  at  the  ford  of 
the  Youghiogany,  eighteen  miles  distant.  Washing¬ 
ton  at  once  repaired  to  the  Great  Meadows,  a  level 
tract  of  grass  and  bushes,  bordered  by  wooded  hills, 
and  traversed  in  one  part  by  a  gully,  which  with  a 
little  labor  the  men  turned  into  an  intrenchment,  at 
the  same  time  cutting  away  the  bushes  and  clearing 
what  the  young  commander  called  “a  charming  field 
for  an  encounter.”  Parties  were  sent  out  to  scour 
the  woods,  but  they  found  no  enemy.  Two  days 
passed;  when,  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty-seventh, 
Christopher  Gist,  who  had  lately  made  a  settlement 
on  the  farther  side  of  Laurel  Hill,  twelve  or  thirteen 
miles  distant,  came  to  the  camp  with  news  that  fifty 
Frenchmen  had  been  at  his  house  towards  noon  of 
the  day  before,  and  would  have  destroyed  everything 
but  for  the  intervention  of  two  Indians  whom  he  had 
left  in  charge  during  his  absence.  Washington  sent 
seventy-five  men  to  look  for  the  party;  but  the 


152 


WASHINGTON. 


[1754. 


search  was  vain,  the  French  having  hidden  them¬ 
selves  so  well  as  to  escape  any  eye  but  that  of  an 
Indian.  In  the  evening  a  runner  came  from  the 
Half-King,  who  was  encamped  with  a  few  warriors 
some  miles  distant.  He  had  sent  to  tell  Washington 
that  he  had  found  the  tracks  of  two  men,  and  traced 
them  towards  a  dark  glen  in  the  forest,  where  in  his 
belief  all  the  French  were  lurking. 

Washington  seems  not  to  have  hesitated  a  moment. 
Fearing  a  stratagem  to  surprise  his  camp,  he  left  his 
main  force  to  guard  it,  and  at  ten  o’clock  set  out  for 
the  Half-King’s  wigwams  at  the  head  of  forty  men. 
The  night  was  rainy,  and  the  forest,  to  use  his  own 
words,  “as  black  as  pitch.”  “The  path,”  he  con¬ 
tinues,  “was  hardly  wide  enough  for  one  man;  we 
often  lost  it,  and  could  not  find  it  again  for  fifteen  or 
twenty  minutes,  and  we  often  tumbled  over  each 
other  in  the  dark.”1  Seven  of  his  men  were  lost  in 
the  woods  and  left^behind.  The  rest  groped  their 
way  all  night,  and  Reached  the  Indian  camp  at  sun¬ 
rise.  A  council  was  held  with  the  Half-King,  and 
he  and  his  warriors  agreed  to  join  in  striking  the 
French.  Two  of  them  led  the  way.  The  tracks  of 
the  two  French  scouts  seen  the  day  before  were  again 
found,  and,  marching  in  single  file,  the  party  pushed 
through  the  forest  into  the  rocky  hollow  where  the 

1  Journal  of  Washington  in  Precis  des  Faits,  109.  This  Journal, 
which  is  entirely  distinct  from  that  before  cited,  was  found  by  the 
French  among  the  baggage  left  on  the  field  after  the  defeat  of 
Braddock  in  1755,  and  a  translation  of  it  was  printed  by  them  as 
above.  The  original  has  disappeared. 


1754.] 


JUMONVILLE. 


153 


French  were  supposed  to  be  concealed.  They  were 
there  in  fact;  and  they  snatched  their  guns  the 
moment  they  saw  the  English.  Washington  gave 
the  word  to  fire.  A  short  fight  ensued.  Coulon  de 
Jumonville,  an  ensign  in  command,  was  killed,  with  ^ 
nine  others;  twenty-two  were  captured,  and  none 
escaped  but  a  Canadian  who  had  fled  at  the  beginning 
of  the  fray.  After  it  was  over,  the  prisoners  told 
Washington  that  the  party  had  been  sent  to  bring 
him  a  summons  from  Contrecoeur,  the  commandant 
at  Fort  Duquesne. 

Five  days  before,  Contrecoeur  had  sent  Jumonville 
to  scour  the  country  as  far  as  the  dividing  ridge  of 
the  Alleghanies.  Under  him  were  another  officer, 
three  cadets,  a  volunteer,  an  interpreter,  and  twenty  - 
eight  men.  He  was  provided  with  a  written  sum¬ 
mons,  to  be  delivered  to  any  English  he  might  find. 

It  required  them  to  withdraw  from  the  domain  of  K 
the  King  of  France,  and  threatened  compulsion  by 
force  of  arms  in  case  of  refusal.  But  before  deliver¬ 
ing  the  summons  Jumonville  was  ordered  to  send 
two  couriers  back  with  all  speed  to  Fort  Duquesne 
to  inform  the  commandant  that  he  had  found  the 
English,  and  to  acquaint  him  when  he  intended  to 
communicate  with  them.1  It  is  difficult  to  imagine 
any  object  for  such  an  order  except  that  of  enabling 
Contrecoeur  to  send  to  the  spot  whatever  force  might 
be  needed  to  attack  the  English  on  their  refusal  to 

1  The  summons  and  the  instructions  to  Jumonville  are  in  Pr€c\s 
(ies  Faits. 


154 


WASHINGTON. 


[1754. 


withdraw.  Jumonville  had  sent  the  two  couriers, 
and  had  hidden  himself,  apparently  to  wait  the 
result.  He  lurked  nearly  two  days  within  five  miles 
of  Washington’s  camp,  sent  out  scouts  to  reconnoitre 
it,  but  gave  no  notice  of  his  presence ;  played  to 
perfection  the  part  of  a  skulking  enemy,  and  brought 
destruction  on  himself  by  conduct  which  can  only  be 
ascribed  to  a  sinister  motive  pn  the  one  hand,  or  to 
extreme  folly  on  the  other.  French  deserters  told 
/k  Washington  that  the  party  came  as  spies,  and  were 
to  show  the  summons  only  if  threatened  by  a  superior 
force.  This  last  assertion  is  confirmed  by  the  French 
officer  Pouchot,  who  says  that  Jumonville,  seeing 
himself  the  weaker  party,  tried  to  show  the  letter  he 
had  brought.1 

French  writers  say  that,  on  first  seeing  the  English, 
Jumonville ’s  interpreter  called  out  that  he  had  some¬ 
thing  to  say  to  them;  but  Washington,  who  was  at 
the  head  of  his  men,  affirms  this  to  be  absolutely 
false.  The  French  say  further  that  Jumonville  was 
killed  in  the  act  of  reading  the  summons.  This  is 
also  denied  by  Washington,  and  rests  only  on  the 
assertion  of  the  Canadian  who  ran  off  at  the  outset, 
and  on  the  alleged  assertion  of  Indians  who,  if 
present  at  all,  which  is  unlikely,  escaped  like  the 
Canadian  before  the  fray  began.  Druillon,  an  officer 
with  Jumonville,  wrote  two  letters  to  Dinwiddie 
after  his  capture,  to  claim  the  privileges  of  the 
bearer  of  a  summons;  but  while  bringing  forward 

1  Pouchot,  Memqire  sur  la,  dernier e  Guerre. 


1754.]  WASHINGTON’S  CHARACTERISTICS.  155 

every  other  circumstance  in  favor  of  the  claim,  he 

< 

does  not  pretend  that  the  summons  was  read  or  shown 
either  before  or  during  the  action.  The  French 
account  of  the  conduct  of  Washington’s  Indians  is  no 
less  erroneous.  “This  murder,”  says  a  chronicler  of 
the  time,  “produced  on  the  minds  of  the  savages  an 
effect  very  different  from  that  which  the  cruel 
Vvasinghton  had  promised  himself.  They  have,  a 
horror  of  crime ;  and  they  were  so  indignant  at  that 
which  had  just  been  perpetrated  before  their  eyes, 
that  they  abandoned  him,  and  offered  themselves  to 
us  in  order  to  take  vengeance.”1  Instead  of  doing 
this,  they  boasted  of  their  part  in  the  fight,  scalped 
all  the  dead  Frenchmen,  sent  one  scalp  to  the  Dela¬ 
wares  as  an  invitation  to  take  up  the  hatchet  for  the 
English,  and  distributed  the  rest  among  the  various 
Ohio  tribes  to  the  same  end. 

Coolness  of  judgment,  a  profound  sense  of  public 
duty,  and  a  strong  self-control,  were  even  then  the 
characteristics  of  Washington;  but  he  was  scarcely 
twenty-two,  was  full  of  military  ardor,  and  was 
vehement  and  fiery  by  nature.  Yet  it  is  far  from 
certain  that,  even  when  age  and  experience  had 
ripened  him,  he  would  have  forborne  to  act  as  he  did, 
for  there  was  every  reason  for  believing  that  the 
designs  of  the  French  were  hostile ;  and  though  by 
passively  waiting  the  event  he  would  have  thrown 
upon  them  the  responsibility  of  striking  the  first 
blow,  he  would  have  exposed  his  small  party  to 

1  Poulin  4e  Lumina,  Histoire  de  la  Guerre  contre  les  Anglois ,  15. 


156 


WASHINGTON. 


[1754. 


capture  or  destruction  by  giving  them  time  to  gain 
reinforcements  from  Fort  Duquesne.  It  was  inevi¬ 
table  that  the  killing  of  Jumonville  should  be  greeted 
in  France  by  an  outcry  of  real  or  assumed  horror; 
but  the  Chevalier  de  Levis,  second  in  command  to 
Montcalm,  probably  expresses  the  true  opinion  of 
Frenchmen  best  fitted  to  judge  when  he  calls  it  “  a 
pretended  assassination.”  1  Judge  it  as  we  may,  this 
obscure  skirmish  began  the  war  that  set  the  world 
on  fire.2 

Washington  returned  to  the  camp  at  the  Great 
Meadows;  and,  expecting  soon  to  be  attacked,  sent 
for  reinforcements  to  Colonel  Fry,  who  was  lying 
dangerously  ill  at  Will’s  Creek.  Then  he  set  his 
men  to  work  at  an  intrenchment,  which  he  named 
Fort  Necessity,  and  which  must  have  been  of  the 
slightest,  as  they  finished  it  within  three  days.3  The 

1  Levis,  Memoire  sur  la  Guerre  clu  Canada. 

2  On  this  affair  Sparks,  Writings  of  Washington,  ii.  25-48,  447. 
Dinwiddie  Papers.  Letter  of  Contrecaeur  in  Precis  des  Faits.  Journal 
of  Washington,  Ibid.  Washington  to  Dinwiddie,  3  June,  1754.  Dus- 
sieux,  Le  Canada  sous  la  Domination  Franqaise,  118.  Gaspe,  Anciens 
Canadiens,  Appendix,  396.  The  assertion  of  Abbe  de  l’lsle-Dieu, 
that  Jumonville  showed  a  flag  of  truce,  is  unsupported.  Adam 
Stephen,  who  was  in  the  fight,  says  that  the  guns  of  the  English 
were  so  wet  that  they  had  to  trust  mainly  to  the  bayonet.  The 
Half-King  boasted  that  he  killed  Jumonville  with  his  tomahawk. 
Dinwiddie  highly  approved  Washington’s  conduc^ 

In  1755  the  widow  of  Jumonville  received  a  pension  of  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  francs.  In  1775,  his  daughter,  Charlotte  Aimable, 
wishing  to  become  a  nun,  was  given  by  the  King  six  hundred  francs 
for  her  “trousseau”  on  entering  the  convent.  Dossier  de  Jumon¬ 
ville  et  de  sa  Veuve,  22  Mars,  1755.  Memoire  pour  Mile,  de  Jumonville , 
10  Juillet,  1775.  Re'ponse  du  Garde  de.  Sceaux,  25  Juillet,  1775. 

3  Journal  of  Washington  in  Precis  des  Faits. 


. 


1754.] 


THE  GREAT  MEADOWS. 


157 


Half-King  now  joined  him,  along  with  the  female 
potentate  known  as  Queen  Alequippa,  and  some 
thirty  Indian  families.  A  few  days  after,  Gist  came 
from  Will’s  Creek  with  news  that  Fry  was  dead. 
Washington  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  regi¬ 
ment,  the  remaining  three  companies  of  which  pres¬ 
ently  appeared  and  joined  their  comrades,  raising  the 
whole  number  to  three  hundred.  Next  arrived  the 
independent  company  from  South  Carolina;  and 
the  Great  Meadows  became  an  animated  scene,  with 
the  wigwams  of  the  Indians,  the  camp-sheds  of  the 
rough  Virginians,  the  cattle  grazing  on  the  tall 
grass  or  drinking  at  the  lazy  brook  that  traversed 
it;  the  surrounding  heights  and  forests;  and  over 
all,  four  miles  away,  the  lofty  green  ridge  of  Laurel 
Hill. 

The  presence  of  the  company  of  regulars  was  a 
doubtful  advantage.  Captain  Mackay,  its  com¬ 
mander,  holding  his  commission  from  the  King, 
thought  himself  above  any  officer  Commissioned  by 
the  governor.  There  was  great  courtesy  between 
him  and  Washington;  but  Mackay  would  take  no 
orders,  nor  even  the  countersign,  from  the  colonel  of 
volunteers.  Nor  would  his  men  work,  except  for  an 
additional  shilling  a  day.  To  give  this  was  impos¬ 
sible,  both  from  want  of  money,  and  from  the  discon¬ 
tent  it  would  have  bred  in  the  Virginians,  who 
worked  for  nothing  besides  their  daily  pay  of  eight- 
pence.  Washington,  already  a  leader  of  men,  pos¬ 
sessed  himself  *.n  a  patience  extremely  difficult  to 


158 


WASHINGTON. 


[1754. 


his  passionate  temper ;  but  the  position  was  untenable, 
and  the  presence  of  the  military  drones  demoralized 
his  soldiers.  Therefore,  leaving  Mackay  at  the 
Meadows,  he  advanced  towards  Gist’s  settlement, 
cutting  a  wagon  road  as  he  went. 

On  reaching  the  settlement  the  camp  was  formed 
and  an  intrenchment  thrown  up.  Deserters  had 
brought  news  that  strong  reinforcements  were  ex¬ 
pected  at  Fort  Duquesne,  and  friendly  Indians 
repeatedly  warned  Washington  that  he  would  soon 
be  attacked  by  overwhelming  numbers.  Forty 
Indians  from  the  Ohio  came  to  the  camp,  and  several 
days  were  spent  in  councils  with  them;  but  they 
proved  for  the  most  part  to  be  spies  of  the  French. 
The  Half-King  stood  fast  by  the  English,  and  sent 
out  three  of  his  young  warriors  as  scouts.  Reports 
of  attack  thickened.  Mackay  and  his  men  were  sent 
for,  and  they  arrived  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  June. 
A  council  of  war  was  held  at  Gist’s  house;  and  as 
the  camp  was  commanded  by  neighboring  heights,  it 
was  resolved  to  fall  back.  The  horses  were  so  few 
that  the  Virginians  had  to  carry  much  of  the  baggage 
on  their  backs,  and  drag  nine  swivels  over  the  broken 
and  rocky  road.  The  regulars,  though  they  also 
were  raised  in  the  provinces,  refused  to  give  the 
slightest  help.  Toiling  on  for  two  days,  they  reached 
the  Great  Meadows  on  the  first  of  July.  The  posi¬ 
tion,  though  perhaps  the  best  in  the  neighborhood, 
was  very  unfavorable,  and  Washington  would  have 
retreated  farther,  but  for  the  condition  of  his  men. 


1754.]  COULON  DE  VILLIERS.  159 

They  were  spent  with  fatigue,  and  there  was  no 
choice  but  to  stay  and  fight. 

Strong  reinforcements  had  been  sent  to  Fort 
Duquesne  in  the  spring,  and  the  garrison  now  con¬ 
sisted  of  about  fourteen  hundred  men.  When  news 
of  the  death  of  Jumonville  reached  Montreal,  Coulon 
de  Villiers,  brother  of  the  slain  officer,  was  sent  to 
the  spot  with  a  body  of  Indians  from  all  the  tribes  in 
the  colony.  He  made  such  speed  that  at  eight 
o’clock  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty-sixth  of  June 
he  reached  the  fort  with  his  motley  following.  Here 
he  found  that  five  hundred  Frenchmen  and  a  few 
Ohio  Indians  were  on  the  point  of  marching  against 
the  English,  under  Chevalier  Le  Mercier;  but  in 
view  of  his  seniority  in  rank  and  his  relationship  to 
Jumonville,  the  command  was  now  transferred  to 
Villiers.  Hereupon,  the  march  was  postponed;  the 
newly-arrived  warriors  were  called  to  council,  and 
Contrecoeur  thus  harangued  them:  “The  English 
have  murdered  my  children;  my  heart  is  sick;  to¬ 
morrow  I  shall  send  my  French  soldiers  to  take 
revenge.  And  now,  men  of  the  Saut  St.  Louis,  men 
of  the  Lake  of  Two  Mountains,  Hurons,  Abenakis, 
Iroquois  of  La  Presentation,  Nipissings,  Algonquins, 
and  Ottawas,  —  I  invite  you  all  by  this  belt  of  wam¬ 
pum  to  join  your  French  father  and  help  him  to 
crush  the  assassins.  Take  this  hatchet,  and  with  it 
two  barrels  of  wine  for  a  feast.”  Both  hatchet  and 
wine  were  cheerfully  accepted.  Then  Contrecoeur 
turned  to  the  Delawares,  who  were  also  present: 


160  WASHINGTON.  [1754. 

‘‘By  these  four  strings  of  wampum  I  invite  you,  if 
you  are  true  children  of  Onontio,  to  follow  the 
example  of  your  brethren;  ”  and  with  some  hesitation 
they  also  took  up  the  hatchet. 

The  next  day  was  spent  by  the  Indians  in  making 
moccasons  for  the  march,  and  by  the  French  in  pre¬ 
paring  for  an  expedition  on  a  larger  scale  than  had 
been  at  first  intended.  Contrecceur,  Villiers,  Le 
Mercier,  and  Longueuil,  after  deliberating  together, 
drew  up  a  paper  to  the  effect  that  “  it  was  fitting 
V  ( convenable )  to  march  against  the  English  with  the 
greatest  possible  number  of  French  and  savages,  in 
order  to  avenge  ourselves  and  chastise  them  for 
having  violated  the  most  sacred  laws  of  civilized 
nations;”  that,  though  their  conduct  justified  the 
French  in  disregarding  the  existing  treaty  of  peace, 
yet,  after  thoroughly  punishing  them,  and  compelling 
them  to  withdraw  from  the  domain  of  the  King,  they 
should  be  told  that,  in  pursuance  of  his  royal  orders, 
the  French  looked  on  them  as  friends.  But  it  was 
further  agreed  that  should  the  English  have  with¬ 
drawn  to  their  own  side  of  the  mountains,  “they 
should  he  followed  to  their  settlements  to  destroy 
them  and  treat  them  as  enemies,  till  that  nation 
should  give  ample  satisfaction  and  completely  change 
its  conduct.”  1 

1  Journal  de  Campagne  de  M.  de  Villiers  depuis  son  Arrivee  au 
Fort  Duquesne  jusqu’a  son  Retour  au  dit  Fort  These  and  other  pas¬ 
sages  are  omitted  in  the  Journal  as  pr-.nted  in  Prdcis  des  Faits. 
Before  me  is  a  copy  from  the  original  in  the  Archives  de  1« 
Marine. 


1 


1754.] 


MARCH  OF  VILLIERS. 


161 


The  party  set  out  on  the  next  morning,  paddled 
their  canoes  up  the  Monongahela,  encamped,  heard 
mass ;  and  on  the  thirtieth  reached  the  deserted  store¬ 
house  of  the  Ohio  Company  at  the  mouth  of  Redstone 
Creek.  It  was  a  building  of  solid  logs,  well  loop- 
holed  for  musketry.  To  please  the  Indians  by 
asking  their  advice,  Villiers  called  all  the  chiefs  to 
council;  which  being  concluded  to  their  satisfaction, 
he  left  a  sergeant’s  guard  at  the  storehouse  to  watch 
the  canoes,  and  began  his  march  through  the  forest. 
The  path  was  so  rough  that  at  the  first  halt  the  chap¬ 
lain  declared  he  could  go  no  farther,  and  turned 
back  for  the  storehouse,  though  not  till  he  had 
absolved  the  whole  company  in  a  body.  Thus  light¬ 
ened  of  their  sins,  they  journeyed  on,  constantly 
sending  out  scouts.  On  the  second  of  July  they 
reached  the  abandoned  camp  of  Washington  at  Gist’s 
settlement;  and  here  they  bivouacked,  tired,  and 
drenched  all  night  by  rain.  At  daybreak  they 
marched  again,  and  passed  through  the  gorge  of 
Laurel  Hill.  It  rained  without  ceasing ;  but  Villiers 
pushed  his  way  through  the  dripping  forest  to  see 
the  place,  half  a  mile  from  the  road,  where  his 
brother  had  been  killed,  and  where  several  bodies 
still  lay  unburied.  They  had  learned  from  a  deserter 
the  position  of  the  enemy,  and  Villiers  filled  the 
woods  in  front  with  a  swarm  of  Indian  scouts.  The 
crisis  was  near.  He  formed  his  men  in  column,  and 
ordered  every  officer  to  his  place. 

Washington’s  men  had  had  a  full  day  at  Fort 

VOL.  i.  — 11 


162 


WASHINGTON. 


[1754. 


Necessity;  but  they  spent  it  less  in  resting  from  their 
fatigue  than  in  strengthening  their  rampart  with 
logs.  The  fort  was  a  simple  square  enclosure,  with 
a  trench  said  by  a  French  writer  to  be  only  knee 
deep.  On  the  south,  and  partly  on  the  west,  there 
was  an  exterior  embankment,  which  seems  to  have 
been  made,  like  a  rifle-pit,  with  the  ditch  inside. 
The  Virginians  had  but  little  ammunition,  and  no 
bread  whatever,  living  chiefly  on  fresh  beef.  They 
knew  the  approach  of  the  French,  who  were  reported 
to  Washington  as  nine  hundred  strong,  besides 
Indians.  Towards  eleven  o’clock  a  wounded  sentinel 
came  in  with  news  that  they  were  close  at  hand;  and 
they  presently  appeared  at  the  edge  of  the  woods, 
yelling,  and  firing  from  such  a  distance  that  their 
shot  fell  harmless.  Washington  drew  up  his  men 
on  the  meadow  before  the  fort,  thinking,  he  says, 
that  the  enemy,  being  greatly  superior  in  force,  would 
attack  at  once ;  and  choosing  for  some  reason  to  meet 
them  on  the  open  plain.  But  Villiers  had  other 
views.  “We  approached  the  English,  ”  he  writes,  “  as 
near  as  possible,  without  uselessly  exposing  the  lives 
of  the  King’s  subjects;”  and  he  and  his  followers 
made  their  way  through  the  forest  till  they  came 
opposite  the  fort,  where  they  stationed  themselves  on 
two  densely  wooded  hills,  adjacent,  though  sepa¬ 
rated  by  a  small  brook.  One  of  these  was  about  a 
hundred  paces  from  the  English,  and  the  other  about 
sixty.  Their  position  was  such  that  the  French  and 
Indians,  well  sheltered  by  trees  and  bushes,  and  with 


1754.] 


FORT  NECESSITY. 


163 


the  advantage  of  higher  ground,  could  cross  their 
fire  upon  the  fort  and  enfilade  a  part  of  it.  Wash¬ 
ington  had  meanwhile  drawn  his  followers  within  the 
intrenchment ;  and  the  firing  now  began  on  both 
sides.  Rain  fell  all  day.  The  raw  earth  of  the 
embankment  was  turned  to  soft  mud,  and  the  men  in 
the  ditch  of  the  outwork  stood  to  the  knee  in  water. 
The  swivels  brought  back  from  the  camp  at  Gist’s 
farm  were  mounted  on  the  rampart;  but  the  gunners 
were  so  ill  protected  that  the  pieces  wrere  almost 
silenced  by  the  French  musketry.  The  fight  lasted 
nine  hours.  At  times  the  fire  on  both  sides  was 
nearly  quenched  b}^  the  showers,  and  the  bedrenched 
combatants  could  do  little  but  gaze  at  each  other 
through  a  gray  veil  of  mist  and  rain.  Towards 
night,  however,  the  fusillade  revived,  and  became 
sharp  again  until  dark.  At  eight  o’clock  the  French 
called  out  to  propose  a  parley. 

Villiers  thus  gives  his  reasons  for  these  overtures. 
“  As  we  had  been  wet  all  day  by  the  rain,  as  the 
soldiers  were  very  tired,  as  the  savages  said  that  they 
would  leave  us  the  next  morning,  and  as  there  was 
a  report  that  drums  and  the  firing  of  cannon  had 
been  heard  in  the  distance,  I  proposed  to  M.  Le 
Mercier  to  offer  the  English  a  conference.”  He  says 
further  that  ammunition  was  falling  short,  and  that 
he  thought  the  enemy  might  sally  in  a  body  and 
attack  him.1  The  English,  on  their  side,  were  in  a 

1  Journal  de  Villiers,  original.  Omitted  in  the  Journal  as  printed 
by  the  French  government.  A  short  and  very  incorrect  abstract 
of  this  Journal  will  be  found  in  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  x. 


164 


WASHINGTON. 


[1754. 


worse  plight.  They  were  half  starved,  their  powder 
was  nearly  spent,  their  guns  were  foul,  and  among 
them  all  they  had  hut  two  screw-rods  to  clean  them. 
In  spite  of  his  desperate  position,  Washington 
declined  the  parley,  thinking  it  a  pretext  to  introduce 
a,  spy  ;  hut  when  the  French  repeated  their  proposal 
and  requested  that  he  would  send  an  officer  to  them, 
he  could  hesitate  no  longer.  There  were  but  two 
men  with  him  who  knew  French,  Ensign  Peyioney, 
who  was  disabled  by  a  wound,  and  the  Dutchman, 
Captain  Vanbraam.  To  him  the  unpalatable  errand 
was  assigned.  After  a  long  absence  he  returned  with 
articles  of  capitulation  offered  by  Villiers ;  and  while 
the  officers  gathered  about  him  in  the  rain,  he  read 
and  interpreted  the  paper  by  the  glimmer  of  a  sput¬ 
tering  candle  kept  alight  with  difficulty.  Objection 
was  made  to  some  of  the  terms,  and  they  were 
changed.  Vanbraam,  however,  apparently  anxious 
to  get  the  capitulation  signed  and  the  affair  ended, 
mistranslated  several  passages,  and  rendered  the 
words  Vassassinat  du  Sieur  de  Jumonville  as  the  death 
of  the  SieuT  de  Jumonville.^  As  thus  understood,  the 
articles  were  signed  about  midnight.  They  provided 
that  the  English  should  march  out  with  drums  beat¬ 
ing  and  the  honors  of  war,  carrying  with  them  one 
of  their  swivels  and  all  their  other  property;  that 

i  See  Appendix  C.  On  the  fight  at  Great  Meadows,  compare 
Sparks,  Writings  of  Washington,  ii.  456-468;  also  a  letter  of  Colonel 
Innes  to  Governor  Hamilton,  written  a  week  after  the  event,  in 
Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  vi.  50,  and  a  letter  of  Adam  Stephen,  in 
Pennsylvania  Gazette,  1754. 


1754.] 


CAPITULATION. 


165 


they  should  be  protected  against  insult  from  French 
or  Indians ;  that  the  prisoners  taken  in  the  affair  of 
Jumonville  should  be  set  free;  and  that  two  officers 
should  remain  as  hostages  for  their  safe  return  to 
Fort  Duquesne.  The  hostages  chosen  were  Van- 
braam  and  a  brave  but  eccentric  Scotchman,  Robert 
Stobo,  an  acquaintance  of  the  novelist  Smollett,  said 
to  be  the  original  of  his  Lismaliago. 

Washington  reports  that  twelve  of  the  Virginians 
were  killed  on  the  spot,  and  forty-three  wounded, 
while  of  the  casualties  in  Mackay’s  company  no 
returns  appear.  Villiers  reports  his  own  loss  at  only 
twenty  in  all.1  The  numbers  engaged  are  uncertain. 
The  six  companies  of  the  Virginia  regiment  counted 
three  hundred  and  five  men  and  officers,  and  Mackay’s 
company  one  hundred;  but  many  were  on  the  sick 
list,  and  some  had  deserted.  About  three  hundred 
and  fifty  may  have  taken  part  in  the  fight.  On  the 
side  of  the  French,  Villiers  says  that  the  detachment 
as  originally  formed  consisted  of  five  hundred  white 
men.  These  were  increased  after  his  arrival  at  Fort 
Duquesne,  and  one  of  the  party  reports  that  seven 
hundred  marched  on  the  expedition.2  The  number 


1  Dinwiddie  writes  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  that  thirty  in  all  were 
killed,  and  seventy  wounded,  on  the  English  side  ;  and  the  commis¬ 
sary  Varin  writes  to  Bigot  that  the  French  lost  seventy-two  killed 
and  wounded. 

2  A  Journal  had  from  Thomas  Forbes,  lately  a  Private  Soldier  in  the 
King  of  Franceys  Service.  (Public  Record  Office.)  Forbes  was  one 
of  Villiers’s  soldiers.  The  commissary  Varin  puts  the  number  of 
French  at  six  hundred,  besides  Indians. 


166 


WASHINGTON. 


[1754. 


of  Indians  joining  them  is  not  given;  but  as  nine 
tribes  and  communities  contributed  to  it,  and  as  two 
barrels  of  wine  were  required  to  give  the  warriors  a 
parting  feast,  it  must  have  been  considerable.  White 
men  and  red,  it  seems  clear  that  the  French  force 
was  more  than  twice  that  of  the  English,  while  they 
were  better  posted  and  better  sheltered,  keeping  all 
day  under  cover,  and  never  showing  themselves  on 
the  open  meadow.  There  were  no  Indians  with 
Washington.  Even  the  Half-King  held  aloof; 
though,  being  of  a  caustic  turn,  he  did  not  spare  his 
comments  on  the  fight,  telling  Conrad  Weiser,  the 
provincial  interpreter,  that  the  French  behaved  like 
cowards,  and  the  English  like  fools.1 

In  the  early  morning  the  fort  was  abandoned  and 
the  retreat  began.  The  Indians  had  killed  all  the 
horses  and  cattle,  and  Washington’s  men  were  so 
burdened  with  the  sick  and  wounded,  whom  they 
were  obliged  to  carry  on  their  backs,  that  most  of  the 
baggage  was  perforce  left  behind.  Even  then  they 
could  march  but  a  few  miles,  and  then  encamped  to 
wait  for  wagons.  The  Indians  increased  the  con¬ 
fusion  by  plundering,  and  threatening  an  attack. 
They  knocked  to  pieces  the  medicine-chest,  thus 

1  Journal  of  Conrad  Weiser,  in  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  vi.  150. 
The  Half -King  also  remarked  that  Washington  “  was  a  good- 
natured  man,  but  had  no  experience,  and  would  by  no  means  take 
advice  from  the  Indians,  but  was  always  driving  them-  on  to  fight 
by  his  directions ;  that  he  lay  at  one  place  from  one  full  moon  to 
the  other,  and  made  no  fortifications  at  all,  except  that  little  thing 
upon  the  meadow,  where  he  thought  the  French  would  come  up  to 
him  in  open  field.” 


1754.] 


SUCCESS  OF  VILLIERS. 


167 


causing  great  distress  to  the  wounded,  two  of  whom 
they  murdered  and  scalped.  For  a  time  there  was 
danger  of  panic;  but  order  was  restored,  and  the 
wretched  march  began  along  the  forest  road  that  led 
over  the  Alleghanies,  fifty-two  miles  to  the  station 
at  Will’s  Creek.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  feel¬ 
ings  of  Washington,  he  has  left  no  record  of  them. 
His  immense  fortitude  was  doomed  to  severer  trials 
in  the  future;  yet  perhaps  this  miserable  morning 
was  the  darkest  of  his  life.  He  was  deeply  moved 
by  sights  of  suffering;  and  all  around  him  were 
wounded  men  borne  along  in  torture,  and  weary  men 
staggering  under  the  living  load.  His  pride  was 
humbled,  and  his  young  ambition  seemed  blasted  in 
the  bud.  It  was  the  fourth  of  July.  He  could  not 
foresee  that  he  was  to  make  that  day  forever  glorious 
to  a  new-born  nation  hailing  him  as  its  father. 

The  defeat  at  Fort  Necessity  was  doubly  disastrous 
to  the  English,  since  it  was  a  new  step  and  a  long 
one  towards  the  ruin  of  their  interest  with  the 
Indians ;  and  when,  in  the  next  year,  the  smoulder¬ 
ing  war  broke  into  flame,  nearly  all  the  western  tribes 
drew  their  scalping-knives  for  France. 

Yilliers  went  back  exultant  to  Fort  Duquesne, 
burning  on  his  way  the  buildings  of  Gist’s  settlement 
and  the  storehouse  at  Redstone  Creek.  Not  an 
English  flag  now  waved  beyond  the  Alleghanies.1 


1  See  Appendix  C. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1754,  1755. 

THE  SIGNAL  OF  BATTLE. 

Troubles  of  Dinwiddie.  —  Gathering  of  the  Burgesses.  — 
Virginian  Society. —  Refractory  Legislators. — The  Qua¬ 
ker  Assembly:  it  refuses  to  resist  the  French. — Apathy 
of  New  York.  —  Shirley  and  the  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts.  —  Short-sighted  Policy.  —  Attitude  of 
Royal  Governors.  —  Indian  Allies  waver.  —  Convention 
at  Albany.  —  Scheme  of  Union:  it  fails. —  Dinwiddie 
and  Glen.  —  Dinwiddie  calls  on  England  for  Help.  — 
The  'Duke  of  Newcastle.  —  Weakness  of  the  British 
Cabinet.  —  Attitude  of  France.  —  MutuIl  Dissimulation. 
—  Both  Powers  send  Troops  to  America.  —  Collision.  — 
Capture  of  the  “Alcide”  and  the  “Lis.” 

The  defeat  of  Washington  was  a  heavy  blow  to 
the  governor,  and  he  angrily  ascribed  it  to  the  delay 
of  the  expected  reinforcements.  The  King’s  com¬ 
panies  from  New  York  had  reached  Alexandria,  and 
crawled  towards  the  scene  of  action  with  thin  ranks, 
bad  discipline,  thirty  women  and  children,  no  tents, 
no  blankets,  no  knapsacks,  and  for  munitions  one' 
barrel  of  spoiled  gunpowder.1  The  case  was  still 
worse  with  the  regiment  from  North  Carolina.  It 
was  commanded  by  Colonel  Innes,  a  countryman  and 

1  Dinwiddie  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  24  July,  1754.  Ibid,  to  Delancey, 
20  June,  1754. 


1754.] 


THE  VIRGINIAN  CAPITAL. 


169 


friend  of  Dinwiddie,  who  wrote  to  him:  “Dear 
James,  I  now  wish  that  we  had  none  from  your 
colony  but  yourself,  for  I  foresee  nothing  but  con¬ 
fusion  among  them.”  The  men  were,  in  fact,  utterly 
unmanageable.  They  had  been  promised  three  shil¬ 
lings  a  day,  while  the  Virginians  had  only  eightpence ; 
and  when  they  heard  on  the  march  that  their  pay  was 
to  be  reduced,  they  mutinied,  disbanded,  and  went 
home. 

“You  may  easily  guess,”  says  Dinwiddie  to  a 
London  correspondent,  “  the  great  fatigue  and  trouble 
I  have  had,  which  is  more  than  I  ever  went  through 
in  my  life.”  He  rested  his  hopes  on  the  session  of 
his  Assembly,  which  was  to  take  place  in  August; 
for  he  thought  that  the  late  disaster  would  move 
them  to  give  him  money  for  defending  the  colony. 
These  meetings  of  the  burgesses  were  the  great  social  f 
as  well  as  political  event  of  the  Old  Dominion,  and 
gave  a  gathering  signal  to  the  Virginian  gentry  scat¬ 
tered  far  and  wide  on  their  lonely  plantations.  The 
capital  of  the  province  was  Williamsburg,  a  village 
of  about  a  thousand  inhabitants,  traversed  by  a 
straight  and  very  wide  street,  and  adorned  with 
various  public  buildings,  conspicuous  among  which 
was  William  and  Mary  College,  a  respectable  struc-  . 
ture,  unjustly  likened  by  Jefferson  to  a  brick  kiln 
with  a  roof.  The  capitol,  at  the  other  end  of  the 
town,  had  been  burned  some  years  before,  and  had 
just  risen  from  its  ashes.  Not  far  distant  was  the 
so-called  Governor’s  Palace,  where  Dinwiddie  with 


170  THE  SIGNAL  OF  BATTLE.  [1754. 

his  wife  and  two  daughters  exercised  such  official 
hospitality  as  his  moderate  salary  and  Scottish  thrift 
would  permit.1 

In  these  seasons  of  festivity  the  dull  and  quiet 
village  was  transfigured.  The  broad,  sandy  street, 
scorching  under  a  southern  sun,  was  thronged  with 
coaches  and  chariots  brought  over  from  London  at 
heavy  cost  in  tobacco,  though  soon  to  be  bedimmed 
by  Virginia  roads  and  negro  care ;  racing  and  hard- 
drinking  planters;  clergymen  of  the  Establishment, 
not  much  more  ascetic  than  their  boon  companions 
of  the  laity;  ladies,  with  manners  a  little  rusted  by 
long  seclusion;  black  coachmen  and  footmen,  proud 
of  their  masters  and  their  liveries;  young  cavaliers, 
booted  and  spurred,  sitting  their  thoroughbreds  with 
the  careless  grace  of  men  whose  home  was  the  saddle. 
It  was  a  proud  little  provincial  society,  which  might 
seem  absurd  in  its  lofty  self-appreciation,  had  it  not 
soon  approved  itself  so  prolific  in  ability  and  worth.2 

The  burgesses  met,  and  Dinwiddie  made  them  an 
opening  speech,  inveighing  against  the  aggressions 
of  the  French,  their  “contempt  of  treaties,”  and 
“ambitious  views  for  universal  monarchy;”  and  he 
concluded:  “I  could  expatiate  very  largely  on  these 

1  For  a  contemporary  account  of  Williamsburg,  Burnaby, 
Travels  in  North  America,  6.  Smyth,  Tour  in  America,  i.  17,  de¬ 
scribes  it  some  years  later. 

2  The  English  traveller  Smyth,  in  his  Tour,  gives  a  curious  and 
vivid  picture  of  Virginian  life.  For  the  social  condition  of  this 
and  other  colonies  before  the  Revolution,  one  cannot  do  better 
than  to  consult  Lodge’s  Short  History  of  the  English  Colonies. 


1754.]  TROUBLES  OF  DINWIDDIE.  171 

affairs,  but  my  heart  burns  with  resentment  at  their 
insolence.  I  think  there  is  no  room  for  many  argu¬ 
ments  to  induce  you  to  raise  a  considerable  supply  to 
enable  me  to  defeat  the  designs  of  these  troublesome 
people  and  enemies  of  mankind.”  The  burgesses  in 
their  turn  expressed  the  “highest  and  most  becoming 
resentment,”  and  promptly  voted  twenty  thousand  si- 
pounds;  but  on  the  third  reading  of  the  bill  they 
added  to  it  a  rider  which  touched  the  old  question  of 
the  pistole  fee,  and  which,  in  the  view  of  the  gov¬ 
ernor,  was  both  unconstitutional  and  offensive.  He 
remonstrated  in  vain ;  the  stubborn  republicans  would 
not  yield,  nor  would  he ;  and  again  he  prorogued 
them.  This  unexpected  defeat  depressed  him  greatly. 

“  A  governor,”  he  wrote,  “is  really  to  be  pitied  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duty  to  his  king  and  country,  in 
having  to  do  with  such  obstinate,  self-conceited 
people.  ...  I  cannot  satisfy  the  burgesses  unless  I 
prostitute  the  rules  of  government.  I  have  gone 
through  monstrous  fatigues.  Such  wrong-headed 
people,  I  thank  God,  I  never  had  to  do  with  before.”  1 
A  few  weeks  later  he  was  comforted;  for,  having 
again  called  the  burgesses,  they  gave  him  the  money,  ^ 
without  trying  this  time  to  humiliate  him.2 

In  straining  at  a  gnat  and  swallowing  a  camel, 
aristocratic  Virginia  was  far  outdone  by  democratic 
Pennsylvania.  Hamilton,  her  governor,  had  laid 

1  Dinwiddie  to  Hamilton ,  6  September ,  1754.  Ibid,  to  J.  Abercrom¬ 
bie,  1  SepterUber ,  1754. 

2  Hening,  vi.  435. 


172 


THE  SIGNAL  OF  BATTLE. 


[1754. 


before  the  Assembly  a  circular  letter  from  the  Earl 
of  Holdernesse,  directing  him,  in  common  with  other 
governors,  to  call  on  his  province  for  me '•ns  to  repel 
any  invasion  which  might  be  made  “within  the 
undoubted  limits  of  His  Majesty’s  dominion.”1  The 
Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  was  curiously  unlike  that 
of  Virginia,  as  half  and  often  more  than  half  of  its 
members  were  Quaker  tradesmen  in  sober  raiment 
and  broad-brimmed  hats ;  while  of  the  rest,  the 
greater  part  were  Germans  who  cared  little  whether 
they  lived  under  English  rule  or  French,  provided 
that  they  were  left  in  peace  upon  their  farms.  The 
House  replied  to  the  governor’s  call :  “  It  would  be 
highly  presumptuous  in  us  to  pretend  to  judge  of  the 
undoubted  limits  of  His  Majesty’s  dominions ;  ”  and 
they  added:  “the  Assemblies  of  this  province  are 
generally  composed  of  a  majority  who  are  constitu¬ 
tionally  principled  against  war,  and  represent  a  well- 
meaning,  peaceable  people.”2  They  then  adjourned, 
telling  the  governor  that,  “As  those  our  limits  have 
not  been  clearly  ascertained  to  our  satisfaction,  we 
fear  the  precipitate  call  upon  us  as  the  province 
invaded  cannot  answer  any  good  purpose  at  this 
time.” 

In  the  next  month  they  met  again,  and  again 
Hamilton  asked  for  means  to  defend  the  country. 
The  question  was  put,  Should  the  Assembly  give 

1  The  Earl  of  Holdernesse  to  the  Governors  in  America,  28  August , 
1753. 

2  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  v.  748. 


1754.]  CONDUCT  OF  TIIE  QUAKERS.  173 

money  for  the  King’s  use  ?  and  the  vote  was  feebly 
affirmative.  Should  the  sum  be  twenty  thousand 
pounds  ?  The  vote  was  overwhelming  in  the  nega¬ 
tive.  Fifteen  thousand,  ten  thousand,  and  five 
thousand  were  successively  proposed,  and  the  answer 
was  always,  No.  The  House  would  give  nothing  but 
five  hundred  pounds  for  a  present  to  the  Indians;  '!/ 
after  which  they  adjourned  “to  the  sixth  of  the 
month  called  May.”1  At  their  next  meeting  they 
voted  to  give  the  governor  ten  thousand  pounds ;  but 
under  conditions  which  made  them  for  some  time 
independent  of  his  veto,  and  which,  in  other  respects, 
were  contrary  to  his  instructions  from  the  King,  as 
well  as  from  the  proprietaries  of  the  province,  to 
whom  he  had  given  bonds  to  secure  his  obedience. 

He  therefore  rejected  the  bill,  and  they  adjourned. 

In  August  they  passed  a  similar  vote,  with  the  same 
result.  At  their  October  meeting  they  evaded  his 
call  for  supplies.  In  December  they  voted  twenty 
thousand  pounds,  hampered  with  conditions  which 
were  sure  to  be  refused,  since  Morris,  the  new  gov¬ 
ernor,  who  had  lately  succeeded  Hamilton,  was  under 
the  same  restrictions  as  his  predecessor.  They  told 
him,  however,  that  in  the  present  case  they  felt 
themselves  bound  by  no  Act  of  Parliament,  and 
added:  “We  hope  the  Governor,  notwithstanding 
any  penal  bond  he  may  have  entered  into,  will  on 
reflection  think*  himself  at  liberty  and  find  it  con- 

1  Pennsylvania  Archives,  ii.  235.  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  vi.  22- 
26.  Works  of  Franklin ,  iii.  265. 


174 


THE  SIGNAL  OF  BATTLE. 


[1754. 


sistent  with  his  safety  and  honor  to  give  his  assent 
to  this  bilL,,  Morris,  who  had  taken  the  highest 
legal  advice  on  the  subject  in  England,  declined  to 
compromise  himself,  saying : ' 44  Consider,  gentlemen, 
in  what  light  you  will  appear  to  His  Majesty  wdiile, 
instead  of  contributing  towards  your  own  defence, 
you  are  entering  into  an  ill-timed  controversy  con¬ 
cerning  the  validity  of  royal  instructions  which  may 
be  delayed  to  a  more  convenient  time  without  the 
least  injury  to  the  rights  of  the  people.”1  They 
would  not  yield,  and  told  him  44  that  they  had  rather 
the  French  should  conquer  them  than  give  up  their 
privileges.  ”  2  44  Truly,  ”  remarks  Dinwiddie,  44 1  think 

they  have  given  their  senses  a  long  holiday.” 

New  York  was  not  much  behind  her  sisters  in  con¬ 
tentious  stubbornness.  In  answer  to  the  governor’s 
appeal,  the  Assembly  replied:  44It  appears  that  the 
French  have  built  a  fort  at  a  place  called  French 
Creek,  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  Kiver 
Ohio,  which  may,  but  does  not  by  any  evidence  or 
information  appear  to  us  to  be  an  invasion  of  any  of 
His  Majesty’s  colonies.”3  So  blind  were  they  as  yet 
to  44  manifest  destiny !  ”  Afterwards,  however,  on 
learning  the  defeat  of  Washington,  they  gave  five 
thousand  pounds  to  aid  Virginia.4  Maryland,  after 
long  delay,  gave  six  thousand.  New  Jersey  felt 

1  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  vi.  215. 

2  Morris  to  Penn,  1  January,  1755. 

8  Address  of  the  Assembly  to  Lieutenant-Governor  Delancey ,  23 
April,  1754.  Lords  of  Trade  to  Delancey,  5  July,  1754. 

4  Delancey  to  Lords  of  Trade,  8  October,  1764. 


1754.] 


COLONIAL  DISSENSIONS. 


175 


herself  safe  behind  the  other  colonies,  and  would  'P 
give  nothing.  New  England,  on  the  other  hand,  and  + 
especially  Massachusetts,  had  suffered  so  much  from 
^French  war-parties  that  they  were  always  ready  to 
fight.  Shirley,  the  governor  of  Massachusetts,  had 
returned  from  his  bootless  errand  to  settle  the  boun¬ 
dary  question  at  Paris.  His  leanings  were  strongly 
monarchical;  yet  he  believed  in  the  New  Englanders, 
and  was  more  or  less  in  sympathy  with  them.  Both 
he  and  they  were  strenuous  against  the  French,  and 
they  had  mutually  helped  each  other  to  reap  laurels 
in  the  last  war.  Shirley  was  cautious  of  giving 
umbrage  to  his  Assembly,  and  rarely  quarrelled  with 
it,  except  when  the  amount  of  his  salary  was  in 
question.  He  was  not  averse  to  a  war  with  France ; 
for  though  bred  a  lawyer,  and  now  past  middle  life, 
he  flattered  himself  with  hopes  of  a  high  military 
command.  On  the  present  occasion,  making  use  of 
a  rumor  that  the  French  were  seizing  the  carrying- 
place  between  the  Chaudidre  and  the  Kennebec,  he 
drew  from  the  Assembly  a  large  grant  of  money,  and 
induced  them  to  call  upon  him  to  march  in  person  to 
the  scene  of  danger.  He  accordingly  repaired  to 
Falmouth  (now  Portland);  and,  though  the  rumor 
proved  false,  sent  eight  hundred  men  under  Captain 
John  Winslow  to  build  two  forts  on  the  Kennebec 
as  a  measure  of  precaution.1 

1  Massachusetts  Archives,  1754.  Hutchinson,  iii.  26.  Conduct 
of  Major-General  Shirley  briefly  stated.  Journals  of  the  Board  of 
Trade ,  1754. 


176 


THE  SIGNAL  OF  BATTLE. 


[1754. 


While  to  these  northern  provinces  Canada  was  an 
old  and  pestilent  enemy,  those  towards  the  south 
scarcely  knew  her  by  name ;  and  the  idea  of  French 
aggression  on  their  borders  was  so  novel  and  strange 
that  they  admitted  it  with  difficulty.  J  Mind  and 
heart  were  engrossed  in  strife  with  their  governors: 
the  universal  struggle  for  virtual  self-rule. \  But  the 
war  was  often  waged  with  a  passionate  stupidity. 
The  colonist  was  not  then  an  American;  he  was 
simply  a  provincial,  and  a  narrow  one.  The  time 
was  yet  distant  when  these  dissevered  and  jealous 
communities  should  weld  themselves  into  one  broad 
nationality,  capable,  at  need,  of  the  mightiest  efforts 
to  purge  itself  of  disaffection  and  vindicate  its  com¬ 
manding  unity. 

In  the  interest  of  that  practical  independence  which 
they  had  so  much  at  heart,  two  conditions  were 
essential  to  the  colonists.  The  one  was  a  field  for 
expansion,  and  the  other  was  mutual  help.  Their 
\first  necessity  was  to  rid  themselves  of  the  French, 
who,  by  shutting  them  between  the  Alleghanies  and 
the  sea,  would  cramp  them  into  perpetual  littleness. 
With  France  on  their  backs,  growing  while  they  had 
no  room  to  grow,  they  must  ^remain  in  helpless  ward¬ 
ship,  dependent  on  England,  whose  aid  they  would 
-f  always  need ;  but  with  the  W est  open  before  them, 
their  future  was  their  own.  King  and  Parliament 
would  respect  perforce  the  will  of  a  people  spread 
from  the  ocean  to  the  Mississippi,  and  united  in 
action  as  in  aims.  But  in  the  middle  of  the  last 


'4 

% 


1754.]  ATTITUDE  OF  ROYAL  GOVERNORS.  177 

• 

century  the  vision  of  the  ordinary  colonist  rarely 
reached  so  far.  The  immediate  victory  over  a  gov¬ 
ernor,  however  slight  the  point  at  issue,  was  more 
precious  in  his  eyes  than  the  remote  though  decisive 
advantage  which  he  saw  but  dimly. 

The  governors,  representing  the  central  power,- 
saw  the  situation  from  the  national  point  of  view. 

Several  of  them,  notably  Dinwiddie  and  Shirley,  were  4 
filled  with  wrath  at  the  proceedings  of  the  French; 
and  the  former  was  exasperated  beyond  measure  at 
the  supineness  of  the  provinces.  He  had  spared  no 
effort  to  rouse  them,  and  had  failed.  His  instincts 
were  on  the  side  of  authority;  but,  under  the  cir¬ 
cumstances,  it  is  hardly  to  be  imputed  to  him  as  a 
very  deep  offence  against  human  liberty  that  he 
advised  the  compelling  of  the  colonies  to  raise  men 
and  money  for  their  own  defence,  and  proposed, 
in  view  of  their  44  intolerable  obstinacy  and  disobedi¬ 
ence  to  his  Majesty’s  commands,”  that  Parliament 
should  tax  them  half-a-crown  a  head.  The  approach¬ 
ing  war  offered  to  the  party  of  authority  tempta¬ 
tions  from  which  the  colonies  might  have  saved  it 
by  opening  their  purse-strings  without  waiting  to  be 
told. 

The  home  government,  on  its  part,  was  but  half-^  b- 
hearted  in  the  wish  that  they  should  unite  in  oppo¬ 
sition  to  the  common  enemy.  It  was  very  willing 
that  the  several  provinces  should  give  money  and 
men,  but  not  that  they  should  acquire  military  habits  ^ 
and  a  dangerous  capacity  of  acting  together.  There  l 

VOL.  I.  — 12 


178 


THE  SIGNAL  OF  BATTLE. 


[1754. 


was  one  kind  of  union,  however,  so  obviously  neces¬ 
sary,  and  at  the  same  time  so  little  to  be  dreaded, 
that  the  British  Cabinet,  instructed  by  the  governors, 
'/  not  only  assented  to  it,  but  urged  it.  This  was  joint 
action  in  making  treaties  with  the  Indians.  The 

r  ° 

practice  of  separate  treaties,  made  by  each  province  in 
its  own  interest,  had  bred  endless  disorders.  The 
adhesion  of  all  the  tribes  had  been  so  shaken,  and  the 
<  efforts  of  the  French  to  alienate  them  were  so  vig¬ 
orous  and  effective,  that  not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost. 
Joncaire  had  gained  over  most  of  the  Senecas,  Piquet 
was  drawing  the  Onondagas  more  and  more  to  his 
mission,  and  the  Dutch  of  Albany  were  alienating 
their  best  friends,  the  Mohawks,  by  encroaching  on 
their  lands.  Their  chief,  JTendrick,  came  to  New 
York  with  a  deputation  of  the  tribe  to  complain  of 
their  wrongs;  and  finding  no  redress,  went  off  in 
anger,  declaring  that  the  covenant  chain  was  broken.1 
The  authorities  in  alarm  called  William  Johnson  to 
their  aid.  He  succeeded  in  soothing  the  exasperated 
chief,  and  then  proceeded  to  the  confederate  council 
at  Onondaga,  where  he  found  the  assembled  sachems 
full  of  anxieties  and  doubts.  “We  don’t, know  what 
you  Christians,  English  and  French,  intend,”  said 
one  of  their  orators.  “We  are  so  hemmed  in  by  you 
both  that  we  have  hardly  a  hunting-place  left.  In  a 
little  while,  if  we  find  a  bear  in  a  tree,  there  will 
immediately  appear  an  owner  of  the  land  to  claim  the 
property  and  hinder  us  from  killing  it,  by  which 
1  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  vi.  788.  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  v.  625. 


1754.] 


CONVENTION  AT  ALBANY. 


179 


we  live.  We  are  so  perplexed  between  you  that  we 
hardly  know  what  to  say  or  think.”1  No  man  had 
such  power  over  the  Five  Nations  as  Johnson.  His 
dealings  with  them  were  at  once  honest,  downright, 
and  sympathetic.  They  loved  and  trusted  him  as 
much  as  they  detested  the  Indian  commissioners  at 
Albany,  whom  the  province  of  New  York  had  charged 
with  their  affairs,  and  wko,  being  traders,  grossly 
abused  their  office. 

It  was  to  remedy  this  perilous  state  of  things  that 
the  Lords  of  Trade  #nd  Plantations  directed  the 
several  governors  to  urge  on  their  assemblies  the  i 
sending  of  commissioners  to  make  a  joint^  treaty  with 
the  wavering  tribes.2  Seven  of  the  provinces,  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  the  four  New 
England  colonies,  acceded  to  the  plan,  and  sent  to 
Albany,  the  appointed  place  of  meeting,  a  body  of 
men  who  for  character  and  ability  had  never  had  an 
equal  on  the  continent,  but  whose  powers  from  their 
respective  assemblies  were  so  cautiously  limited  as 
to  preclude  decisive  action.  They  met  in  the  court¬ 
house  of  the  little  frontier  city.  A  large  “chain- 
belt  ”  of  wampum  was  provided,  on  wdiich  the  King 
was  symbolically  represented,  holding  in  his  embrace 
the  colonies,  the  Five  Nations,  and  all  their  allied 
tribes.  This  was  presented  to  the  assembled  war- 

1  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  vi.  813. 

2  Circular  Letter  of  Lords  of  Trade  to  Governors  in  America,  18 
September,  1753.  Lords  of  Trade  to  Sir  Danvers  Osborne,  in  N.  Y. 
Col.  Docs.,  vi.  800. 


■) 


180  THE  SIGNAL  OF  BATTLE.  [1754. 

riors,  with  a  speech  in  which  the  misdeeds  of  the 
^  French  were  not  forgotten.  The  chief,  Hendrick, 
made  a  much  better  speech  in  reply.  “We  do  now 
K  solemnly  renew  and  brighten  the  covenant  chain. 
We  shall  take  the  chain-belt  to  Onondaga,  where 
our  council-fire  always  burns,  and  keep  it  so  safe 
that  neither  thunder  nor  lightning  shall  break  it.” 
The  commissioners  had  blamed  them  for  allowing  so 
many  of  their  people  to  be  drawn  away  to  Piquet  s 
mission.  “It  is  true,”  said  the  orator,  “that  we  live 
disunited.  We  have  tried  to  bring  back  our  brethren, 
but  in  vain;  for  the  Governor  of  Canada  is  like  a 
wicked,  deluding  spirit.  You  ask  why  we  are  so 
dispersed.  The  reason  is  that  you  have  neglected  us 
for  these  three  years  past.”  Here  he  took  a  stick 
and  threw  it  behind  him.  “You  have  thus  thrown 
us  behind  your  back;  whereas  the  French  are  a 
subtle  and  vigilant  people,  always  using  their  utmost 
endeavors  to  seduce  and  bring  us  over  to  them. 
He  then  told  them  that  it  was  not  the  French  alone 
who  invaded  the  country  of  the  Indians.  “The 
Governor  of  Virginia  and  the  Governor  of  Canada 
are  quarrelling  about  lands  which  belong  to  us,  and 
their  quarrel  may  end  in  our  destruction.”  And  he 
closed  with  a  burst  of  sarcasm.  “We  would  have 
taken  Crown  Point  [in  the  last  war],  but  you  pre¬ 
vented  us.  Instead,  you  burned  your  own  fort  at 
Saratoga  and  ran  away  from  it,  —  which  was  a  shame 
and  a  scandal  to  you.  Look  about  your  country  and 
see :  you  have  no  fortifications ;  no,  not  even  in  this 


1754.] 


SCHEMES  OF  UNION. 


181 


city.  It  is  but  a  step  from  Canada  hither,  and  the 
French  may  come  and  turn  you  out  of  doors.  You 
desire  us  to  speak  from  the  bottom  of  our  hearts,  and 
we  shall  do  it.  Look  at  the  French:  they  are  men; 
they  are  fortifying  everywhere.  But  you  are  all  like 
women,  bare  and  open,  without  fortifications.” 1 

Hendrick’s  brother  Abraham  now  took  up  the 
word,  and  begged  that  Johnson  might  be  restored  to 
the  management  of  Indian  affairs,  which  he  had 
formerly  held;  “for,”  said  the  chief,  “we  love  him 
and  he  us,  and  he  has  always  been  our  good  and 
trusty  friend.”  The  commissioners  had  not  power 
to  grant  the  request,  but  the  Indians  were  assured 
that  it  should  not  be  forgotten ;  and  they  returned  to 
their  villages  soothed,  but  far  from  satisfied.  Nor 
were  the  commissioners  empowered  to  take  any 
effective  steps  for  fortifying  the  frontier. 

The  congress  now  occupied  itself  with  another 
matter.  Its  members  were  agreed  that  great  danger 
was  impending;  that  without  wise  and  just  treat¬ 
ment  of  the  tribes,  the  French  would  gain  them  all, 
build  forts  along  the  back  of  the  British  colonies, 
and,  by  means  of  ships  and  troops  from  France, 
master  them  one  by  one,  unless  they  would  combine 
for  mutual  defence.  The  necessity  of  some  form  of 
union  had  at  length  begun  to  force  itself  upon  the 
colonial  mind.  A  rough  woodcut  had  lately  appeared 

1  Proceedings  of  the  Congress  at  Albany,  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  vi.  853. 
A  few  verbal  changes,  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  are  made  in  the 
above  extracts. 


K  r'll/l  • 

I  !  . 


/ 


in  the  “Pennsylvania  Gazette,”  figuring  the  provinces 
under  the  not  very  flattering  image  of  a  snake  cut  to 
pieces,  with  the  motto,  “Join,  or  die.”  A  writer  of 
the  day  held  up  the  Five  Nations  for  emulation, 
observing  that  if  ignorant  savages  could  confederate, 
British  colonists  might  do  as  much.1  Franklin,  the 
leading  spirit  of  the  congress,  now  laid  before  it  his 
famous  project  of  union,  which  has  been  too  often 
described  to  need  much  notice  here.  Its  fate  is  well 
known.  The  Crown  rejected  it  because  it  gave  too 
much  power  to  the  colonies ;  the  colonies,  because  it 
gave  too  much  power  to  the  Crown,  and  because  it 
required  each  of  them  to  transfer  some  of  its  func¬ 
tions  of  self-government  to  a  central  council.  An¬ 
other  plan  was  afterwards  devised  by  the  friends  of 
prerogative,  perfectly  agreeable  to  the  King,  since  it 
placed  all  power  in  the  hands  of  a  council  of  gov¬ 
ernors,  and  since  it  involved  compulsory  taxation  of 
the  colonists,  who,  for  the  same  reasons,  would  have 
doggedly  resisted  it,  had  an  attempt  been  made  to 
carry  it  into  effect.2 

Even  if  some  plan  of  union  had  been  agreed  upon, 
long  delay  must  have  followed  before  its  machinery 
could  be  set  in  motion;  and  meantime  there  was 


1  Kennedy,  Importance  of  gaining  and  preserving  the  Friendship  of 
the  Indians. 

2  On  the  Albany  plan  of  union,  Franklin’s  Works ,  i.  177.  Shir¬ 
ley  thought,  it  “  a  great  strain  upon  the  prerogative  of  the  Crown,” 
and  was  for  requiring  the  colonies  to  raise  money  and  men  “  with¬ 
out  farther  consulting  them  upon  any  points  whatever.”  Shirley  to 
Robinson ,  24  December ,  1754. 


1754.] 


DINWIDDIE  AND  GLEN. 


18b 


need  of  immediate  action.  War-parties  of  Indians 
from  Canada,  set  on,  it  was  thought,  by  the  governor, 
were  already  burning  and  murdering  among  the 
border  settlements  of  New  York  and  New  Hampshire. 
In  the  south  Dinwiddie  grew  more  and  more  alarmed, 
“  for  the  French  are  like  so  many  locusts ;  they  are 
collected  in  bodies  in  a  most  surprising  manner; 
their  number  now  on  the  Ohio  is  from  twelve  hun¬ 
dred  to  fifteen  hundred.”  He  writes  to  Lord  Gran¬ 
ville  that,  in  his  opinion,  they  aim  to  conquer  the 
continent,  and  that  “the  obstinacy  of  this  stubborn 
generation”  exposes  the  country  “to  the  merciless 
rage  of  a  rapacious  enemy.”  What  vexed  him  even 
more  than  the  apathy  of  the  assemblies  was  the  con¬ 
duct  of  his  brother-governor,  Glen  of  South  Carolina, 
who,  apparently  piqued  at  the  conspicuous  part 
Dinwiddie  was  acting,  wrote  to  him  in  a  “very  dic¬ 
tatorial  style,”  found  fault  with  his  measures,  jested 
at  his  activity  in  writing  letters,  and  even  questioned 
the  right  of  England  to  lands  on  the  Ohio ;  till  he 
was  moved  at  last  to  retort:  “I  cannot  help  observ¬ 
ing  that  your  letters  and  arguments  would  have  been 
more  proper  from  a  French  officer  than  from  one  of 
His  Majesty’s  governors.  My  conduct  has  met  with 
His  Majesty’s  gracious  approbation;  and  I  am  sorry 
it  has  not  received  yours.”  Thus  discouraged,  even 
in  quarters  where  he  had  least  reason  to  expect  it, 
he  turned  all  his  hopes  to  the  home  government; 
again  recommended  a  tax  by  Act  of  Parliament,  and 
begged,  in  repeated  letters,  for  arms,  munitions,  and 


\84  THE  SIGNAL  OF  BATTLE.  [1754. 


'\ 


two  regiments  of  infantry.1  His  petition  was  not 
made  in  vain. 

England  at  this  time  presented  the  phenomenon  of 
a  prime  minister  who  could  not  command  the  respect 
of  his  own  servants.  A  more  preposterous  figure 
than  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  never  stood  at  the  head 
of  a  great  nation.  He  had  a  feverish  craving  for 
place  and  power,  joined  to  a  total  unfitness  for  both. 
He  was  an  adept  in  personal  politics,  and  was  so 
busied  with  the  arts  of  winning  and  keeping  office 
that  he  had  no  leisure,  even  if  he  had  had  ability,  for 
the  higher  work  of  government.  He  was  restless, 
quick  in  movement,  rapid  and  confused  in  speech, 
lavish  of  worthless  promises,  always  in  a  hurry,  and 
at  once  headlong,  timid,  and  rash.  “A  borrowed 
importance  and  real  insignificance,”  says  Walpole, 
who  knew  him  well,  “  gave  him  the  perpetual  air  of 
a  solicitor.  .  .  .  He  had  no  pride,  though  infinite 
self-love.  He  loved  business  immoderately;  yet  was 
only  always  doing  it,  never  did  it.  When  left  to 
himself,  he  always  plunged  into  difficulties,  and  then 
shuddered  for  the  consequences.”  Walpole  gives  an 
anecdote  showing  the  state  of  his  ideas  on  colonial 
matters.  General  Ligonier  suggested  to  him  that 
Annapolis  ought  to  be  defended.  u  To  which  he 
replied  with  his  lisping,  evasive  hurry:  ‘Annapolis, 
Annapolis!  Oh,  yes,  Annapolis  must  be  defended; 
to  be  sure,  Annapolis  should  be  defended,  — where 


1  Dinwiddle  Papers;  letters  to  Granville,  Albemarle,  Halifax, 
Fox,  Holdernesse,  Horace  Walpole,  and  Lords  of  Trade. 


1754.] 


THE  DUKE  OF  NEWCASTLE. 


185 


is  Annapolis ?’” 1  Another  contemporary,  Smollett, 
ridicules  him  in  his  novel  of  “Humphrey  Clinker,” 
and  tells  a  similar  story,  which,  founded  in  fact  or 
not,  shows  in  what  estimation  the  minister  was  held: 
“Captain  C.  treated  the  Duke’s  character  without 
any  ceremony.  4  This  wiseacre,  ’  said  he,  4  is  still 
abed;  and  I  think  the  best  thing  he  can  do  is  to 
sleep  on  till  Christmas ;  for  when  he  gets  up  he  does 
nothing  but  expose  his  own  folly.  In  the  beginning 
of  the  war  he  told  me  in  a  great  fright  that  thirty 
thousand  French  had  marched  from  Acadia  to  Cape 
Breton.  Where  did  they  find  transports  ?  said  I.  — 
Transports!  cried  he,  I  tell  you  they  marched  by 
land.  —  By  land  to  the  island  of  Cape  Breton !  —  What, 
is  Cape  Breton  an  island  ?  —  Certainly.  —  Ha !  are  you 
sure  of  that  ?  —  When  I  pointed  it  out  on  the  map, 
he  examined  it  earnestly  with  his  spectacles ;  then, 
taking  me  in  his  arms,  — My  dear  C.,  cried  he,  you 
always  bring  us  good  news.  Egad!  I  ’ll  go  directly 
and  tell  the  King  that  Cape  Breton  is  an  island.’  ” 
His  wealth,  county  influence,  flagitious  use  of 
patronage,  and  long-practised  skill  in  keeping  majori¬ 
ties  in  the  House  of  Commons  by  means  that  would 
not  bear  the  light,  made  his  support  necessary  to 
Pitt  himself,  and  placed  a  fantastic  political  jobber 
at  the  helm  of  England  in  a  time  when  she  needed  a 
patriot  and  a  statesman.  Newcastle  was  the  growth 
of  the  decrepitude  and  decay  of  a  great  party,  which 
had  fulfilled  its  mission  and  done  its  work.  But  if 

1  Walpole,  George  II.,  i.  344? 


186  THE  SIGNAL  OF  BATTLE.  [1754. 

the  Whig  soil  had  become  poor  for  a  wholesome 
crop,  it  was  never  so  rich  for  toadstools. 

Sir  Thomas  Robinson  held  the  Southern  Depart¬ 
ment,  charged  with  the  colonies;  and  Lord  Mahon 
remarks  of  him  that  the  duke  had  achieved  the  feat 
of  finding  a  secretary  of  state  more  incapable  than 
himself.  He  had  the  lead  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
“  Sir  Thomas  Robinson  lead  us !  ”  said  Pitt  to  Henry 
Fox ;  “  the  Duke  might  as  well  send  his  jackboot  to 
lead  us.”  The  active  and  aspiring  Halifax  was  at 
the  head  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations. 
The  Duke  of  Cumberland  commanded  the  army, 
—  an  indifferent  soldier,  though  a  brave  one ;  harsh, 
violent,  and  headlong.  Anson,  the  celebrated  navi¬ 
gator,  was  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  —  a  position 
in  which  he  disappointed  everybody. 

In  France  the  true  ruler  was  Madame  Pompadour, 
once  the  King’s  mistress,  now  his  procuress,  and  a 
sort  of  feminine  prime  minister.  Machault  d’Arnou- 
ville  was  at  the  head  of  the  Marine  and  Colonial 
Department.  The  diplomatic  representatives  of  the 
two  Crowns  were  more  conspicuous  for  social  than 
for  political  talents.  Of  Mirepoix,  French  ambassa¬ 
dor  at  London,  Marshal  Saxe  had  once  observed: 
“  It  is  a  good  appointment ;  he  can  teach  the  English 
to  dance.”  Walpole  says  concerning  him:  “He 
could  not  even  learn  to  pronounce  the  names  of  our 
games  of  cards,  —  which,  however,  engaged  most  of 
the  hours  of  his  negotiation.  We  were  to  be  bullied 
out  of  our  colonies  by  an  apprentice  at  whist!  ”  Lord 


1754.]  ENGLAND  AND  FRANCE  COMPARED.  187 


Albemarle,  English  ambassador  at  Versailles,  is  held 
up  by  Chesterfield  as  an  example  to  encourage  his 
son  in  the  pursuit  of  the  graces:  “What  do  you 
think  made  our  friend  Lord  Albemarle  colonel  of  a 
regiment  of  Guards,  Governor  of  Virginia,  Groom  of 
the  Stole,  and  ambassador  to  Paris,  —  amounting  in 
all  to  sixteen  or  seventeen  thousand  pounds  a  year? 
Was  it  his  birth?  No;  a  Dutch  gentleman  only. 
Was  it  his  estate?  No;  he  had  none.  Was  it  his 
learning,  his  parts,  his  political  abilities  and  appli¬ 
cation?  You  can  answer  these  questions  as  easily 
and  as  soon  as  I  can  ask  them.  What  was  it  then  ? 
Many  people  wondered;  but  I  do  not,  for  I  know, 
and  will  tell  you,  —  it  was  his  air,  his  address,  his 
manners,  and  his  graces.” 

The  rival  nations  differed  widely  in  military  and 
naval  strength.  England  had  afloat  more  than  two  X 
hundred  ships-of-war,  some  of  them  of  great  force; 
while  the  navy  of  France  counted  little  more  than 
half  the  number.  On  the  other  hand,  England  had  y 
reduced  her  army  to  eighteen  thousand  men,  and 
France  had  nearly  ten  times  as  many  under  arms. 
Both  alike  were  weak  in  leadership.  That  rare  son 
oFlhe  tempest,  a  great  commander,  was  to  be  found 
in  neither  of  them  since  the  death  of  Saxe. 

In  respect  to  the  approaching  crisis,  the  interests 
of  the  two  Powers  pointed  to  opposite  courses  of 
action.  What  France  needed  was  time.  It  was  her  -k 
policy  to  put  off  a  rupture,  wreathe  her  face  in  ^ 
diplomatic  smiles,  and  pose  in  an  attitude  of  peace 


I 


THE  SIGNAL  OF  BATTLE. 

and  good  faith,  while  increasing  her  navy,  reinfor¬ 
cing  her  garrisons  in  America,  and  strengthening  her 
^positions  there.  It  was  the  policy  of  England  to 
attack  at  once,  and  tear  np  the  young  encroachments 
while  they  were  yet  in  the  sap,  before  they  could 
strike  root  and  harden  into  stiff  resistance. 

When,  on  the  fourteenth  of  November,  the  King 
made  his  opening  speech  to  the  Houses  of  Parliament, 
he  congratulated  them  on  the  prevailing  peace,  and 
assured  them  that  he  should  improve  it  to  promote 
the  trade  of  his  subjects,  “and  protect  those  posses¬ 
sions  which  constitute  one  great  source  of  their 
wealth.”  America  was  not  mentioned;  but  his 
hearers  understood  him,  and  made  a  liberal  grant  for 
the  service  of  the  year.1  Two  regiments,  each  of 
five  hundred  men,  had  already  been  ordered  to  sail 
for  Virginia,  where  their  numbers  were  to  be  raised 
by  enlistment  to  seven  hundred.2  Major-General 
y  Braddock,  a  man  after  the  Duke  of  Cumberland’s 
own  heart,  was  appointed  to  the  chief  command. 
The  two  regiments  —  the  forty-fourth  and  the  forty- 
eighth  —  embarked  at  Cork  in  the  middle  of  January. 
The  soldiers  detested  the  service,  and  many  had 
deserted.  More  would  have  done  so  had  they  fore¬ 
seen  what  awaited  them. 

^This  movement  was  no  sooner  known  at  Versailles 

1  Entick,  Late  War,  i.  118. 

2  Robinson  to  Lords  of  the  Admiralty,  30  Septembc  1754.  Ibid,  to 
Board  of  Ordnance,  10  October,  1754.  Ibid.,  Circular  Letter  to  Ameri¬ 
can  Governors,  26  October,  1754.  Instructions  to  our  Trusty  and  Well * 
beloved  Edward  Braddock,  25  November,  1754. 


s 


1755.] 


THE  FRENCH  EXPEDITION. 


189 


than  a  counter  expedition  was  prepared  on  a  larger 
scale.  Eighteen  ships-of-war  were  fitted  for  sea  at 
Brest  and  Rochefort,  and  the  six  battalions  of  La 
Reine,  Bourgogne,  Languedoc,  Guienne,  Artois, 
and  B^arn,  three  thousand  men  in  all,  were  ordered 
on  board  for  Canada.  Baron  Dieskau,  a  German  t 
veteran  who  had  served  under  Saxe,  was  made  their 
general;  and  with  him  went  the  new  governor  of 
French  America,  the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil,  destined 
to  succeed  Duquesne,  whose  health  was  failing  under 
the  fatigues  of  his  office.  Admiral  Dubois  de  la 
Motte  commanded  the  fleet;  and  lest  the  English 
should  try  to  intercept  it,  another  squadron  of  nine 
ships,  under  Admiral  Macnamara,  was  ordered  to 
accompany  it  to  a  certain  distance  from  the  coast. 
There  was  long  and  tedious  delay.  Doreil,  com¬ 
missary  of  war,  who  had  embarked  with  Vaudreuil 
and  Dieskau  in  the  same  ship,  wrote  from  the  harbor 
of  Brest  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  April:  “At  last  I 
think  we  are  off.  We  should  have  been  outside  by 
four  o’clock  this  morning,  if  M.  de  Macnamara  had 
not  been  obliged  to  ask  Count  Dubois  de  la  Motte  to 
wait  till  noon  to  mend  some  important  part  of  the 
rigging  (I  don’t  know  the  name  of  it)  which  was 
broken.  It  is  precious  time  lost,  and  gives  the  Eng¬ 
lish  the  advantage  over  us  of  two  tides.  I  talk  of 
these  things  as  a  blind  man  does  of  colors.  What  is 
certain  is  that  Count  Dubois  de  la  Motte  is  very 
impatient  to  get  away,  and  that  the  King’s  fleet 
destined  for  Canada  is  in  very  able  and  zealous  hands. 


190 


THE  SIGNAL  OF  BATTLE. 


[1755. 


It  is  now  half-past  two.  In  half  an  hour  all  may  be 
ready,  and  we  may  get  out  of  the  harbor  before 
night.”  He  was  again  disappointed;  it  was  the  third 
of  May  before  the  fleet  put  to  sea.1 

During  these  preparations  there  was  active  diplo¬ 
matic  correspondence  between  the  two  courts. 
Mirepoix  demanded  why  British  troops  were  sent  to 
America.  Sir  Thomas  Robinson  answered  that  there 
was  no  intention  to  disturb  the  peace  or  offend  any 
Power  whatever;  yet  the  secret  orders  to  Braddock 
were  the  reverse  of  pacific.  Robinson  asked  on  his 
part  the  purpose  of  the  French  armament  at  Brest 
and  Rochefort;  and  the  answer,  like  his  own,  was  a 
protestation  that  no  hostility  was  meant.  At  the 
same  time  Mirepoix  in  the  name  of  the  King  proposed 
that  orders  should  be  given  to  the  American  governors 
on  both  sides  to  refrain  from  all  acts  of  aggres¬ 
sion.  But  while  making  this  proposal  the  French 
Court  secretly  sent  orders  to  Duquesne  to  attack  and 
destroy  Fort  Halifax,  one  of  the  two  forts  lately 
built  by  Shirley  on  the  Kennebec,  —  a  river  which, 
by  the  admission  of  the  French  themselves,  belonged 
to  the  English.  But,  in  making  this  attack,  the 
French  governor  was  expressly  enjoined  to  pretend 
that  he  acted  without  orders.2  He  was  also  told 

1  Lettres  de  Cremille,  de  Rostaing,  et  de  Doreil  au  Ministre,  Avril 
18,  24,  28,  29,  1755.  Liste  des  Vaisseaux  de  Guerre  qui  composent 
I’Escadre  arm€e  a  Brest ,  1755.  Journal  of  M.  de  Vaudreuil’s  Voyage 
to  Canada,  in  N.  Y.  Col .  Docs.,  x.  297.  Pouchot,  i.  25. 

2  Machault  a  Duquesne,  17  Fevrier,  1755.  The  letter  of  Mirepoix 
proposing  mutual  abstinence  from  aggression  is  (HtGMjfc'on  the  sixth 


1755.] 


BOSCAWEN’S  EXPEDITION. 


191 


that,  if  necessary,  he  might  make  use  of  the  Indians 
to  harass  the  English.1  Thus  there  was  good  faith 
on  neither  part ;  but  it  is  clear  through  all  the  corre- 

/ 

spondence  ijhat  the  English  expected  to  gain  by  pre-X 
cipitating  an  open  rupture,  and  the  French  by 
postponing  it.  Projects  of  convention  were  proposed 
on  both  sides,  but  there  was  no  agreement.  The 
English  insisted  as  a  preliminary  condition  that  the 
French  should  evacuate  all  the  western  country  as 
far  as  the  Wabash.  Then  ensued  a  long  discussion 
of  their  respective  claims,  as  futile  as  the  former  dis¬ 
cussion  at  Paris  on  Acadian  boundaries.2 

The  British  Court  knew  perfectly  the  naval  and 
military  preparations  of  the  French.  Lord  Albemarle 
had  died  at  Paris  in  December;  but  the  secretary  of 
the  embassy,  De  Cosne,  sent  to  London  full  informa- 
.  tion  concerning  the  fleet  at  Brest  and  Rochefort.3 
On  this,  Admiral  Boscawen,  with  eleven  ships-of-/^" 
the-line  and  one  frigate,  was  ordered  to  intercept 
it;  and  as  his  force  was  plainly  too  small,  Admiral 
Holbourne,  with  seven  more  ships,  was  sent,  nearly 
three  weeks  after,  to  join  him  if  he  could.  Their 
orders  were  similar,  — to  capture  or  destroy  any 
French  vessels  bound  to  North  America.4  Boscawen, 

of  the  same  month.  The  French  dreaded  Fort  Halifax,  because 
they  thought  it  prepared  the  way  for  an  advance  on  Quebec  by  way 
of  the  Chaudiere. 

1  Machault  a  Duquesne ,  17  Fevrier,  1755. 

2  This  correspondence  is  printed  among  the  Pieces  justifcatives 
of  the  Precis  des  Faits. 

8  Particulars  in  Entick,  i.  121. 

4  Secret  Instructions  for  our  Trusty  and  Well-beloved  Edward  Bos- 


192  THE  SIGNAL  OF  BATTLE.  [1755. 

^,'who  got  to  sea  before  La  Motte,  stationed  himself 
near  the  southern  coast  of  Newfoundland  to  cut  him 
off;  but  most  of  the  French  squadron  eluded  him, 
and  safely  made  their  way,  some  to  Louisbourg,  and 
the  others  to  Quebec. ,  Thus  the  English  expedition 
was,  in  the  main,  a  failure.  Three  of  the  French 
ships,  however,  lost  in  fog  and  rain,  had  become 
separated  from  the  rest,  and  lay  rolling  and  tossing 
on  an  angry  sea  not  far  from  Cape  Race.  One  of 
them  was  the  “Alcide,”  commanded  by  Captain 
Hocquart ;  the  others  were  the  “  Lis  and  the 
“Dauphin.”  The  wind  fell;  but  the  fogs  continued 
at  intervals ;  till,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  seventh  of 
June,  the  weather  having  cleared,  the  watchman  on 
the  maintop  saw  the  distant  ocean  studded  with 
ships.  It  was  the  fleet  of  Boscawen.  Hocquart, 
who  gives  the  account,  says  that  in  the  morning  they 
were  within  three  leagues  of  him,  crowding  all  sail 
in  pursuit.  Towards  eleven  o  clock  one  of  them,  the 
“Dunkirk,”  was  abreast  of  him  to  windward,  within 
short  speaking  distance ;  and  the  ship  of  the  admiral, 
displaying  a  red  flag  as  a  signal  to  engage,  was  not 
far  off.  Hocquart  called  out:  “Are  we  at  peace,  or 
war?”  He  declares  that  Howe,  captain  of  the 
“ Dunkirk,”  replied  in  French:  “La  paix,  la  paix. 
Hocquart  then  asked  the  name  of  the  British  admiral ; 
and  on  hearing  it  said:  “I  kn.w  him;  he  is  a  friend 

cawen,  Esq.,  Vice-Admiral  of  the  Blue,  16  April,  1755.  Most  secret 
Instructions  for  Francis  Holbourne,  Esq.,  Rear-Admiral  of  the  Blue,  9 
May,  1755.  Robinson  to  Lords  of  the  Admiralty,  8  May,  1755. 


THE  ALCIDE  AND  THE  LIS. 


193 


1755.] 


of  mine.”  Being  asked  liis  own  name  in  return,  he 
had  scarcely  uttered  it  when  the  batteries  of  the 
“Dunkirk”  belched  flame  and  smoke,  and  volleyed  a 
tempest  of  iron  upon  the  crowded  decks  of  the 
“Alcide.”  She  returned  the  fire,  but  was  forced  at/ 
length  to  strike  her  colors.  Rostaing,  second  in 


command  of  the  troops,  was  killed;  and  six  other 


officers,  with  about  eighty  men,  were  killed  or 
wounded.1  At  the  same  time  the  “  Lis  ”  was  attacked 
and  overpowered.  She  had  on  board  eight  companies 
of  the  battalions  of  La  Reine  and  Languedoc.  The 
third  French  ship,  the  “Dauphin,”  escaped  under 
cover  of  a  rising  fog.2 

Here  at  last  was  an  end  to  negotiation.  The  sword  -jt  ^ 
was  drawn  and  brandished  in  the  eyes  of  Europe. 

1  Liste  des  Officiers  tuts  et  blessts  dans  le  Combat  de  V Alcide  et  du 


Lis. 


2  Hocquart’s  account  is  given  in  full  by  Piclion,  Lettres  et 
Mtmoires  pour  servir  a  VHistoire  du  Cap-Breton.  The  short  account 
in  Precis  des  Faits,  272,  seems,  too,  to  be  drawn  from  Hocquart. 
Also  Boscawen  to  Robinson ,  22  June,  1755.  Vaudreuil  au  Ministre, 
24  Juillet,  1755.  Entick,  i.  137. 

Some  English  accounts  say  that  Captain  Howe,  in  answer  to  the 
question,  “Are  we  at  peace,  or  war  ?  ”  returned,  “I  don’t  know; 
but  you  had  better  prepare  for  war.”  Boscawen  places  the  action 
..  on  the  tenth,  instead  of  the  eighth,  and  puts  the  English  loss  at 
seven  killed  and  twenty-seven  wounded. 


VOL.  I.  —  13 


CHAPTER  VII. 

1755. 


BRADDOCK. 

Arrival  of  Braddock:  his  Character. —  Council  at  Alex¬ 
andria. —  Plan  of  the  Campaign.  —  Apathy  of  the  Colo¬ 
nists.  —  Rage  of  Braddock. —  Franklin.  —  Fort  Cumberland. 
—  Composition  .of  the  Army.  —  Offended  Friends.  —  The 
March. — The  French  Fort.  —  Savage  Allies. — The  Cap¬ 
tive.  —  BeAUJEU  :  HE  GOES  TO  MEET  THE  ENGLISH.  - PAS¬ 

SAGE  OF  THE  MONONGAHELA.  —  The  SURPRISE.  —  THE  BATTLE. 
—  Rout  of  Braddock  :  his  Death.  — •  Indian  Ferocity.  — 
Reception  of  the  III  News.  —  Weakness  of  Dunbar.  — 
*  The  Frontier  abandoned. 

“I  have  the  pleasure  to  acquaint  you  that  General 
Braddock  came  to  my  house  last  Sunday  night,  ”  writes 
Dinwiddie,  at  the  end  of  February,  to  Governor 
Dobbs  of  North  Carolina.  Braddock  had  landed 
at  Hampton  from  the  ship  “  Centurion,  ”  along  with 
young  Commodore  Keppel,  who  commanded  the 
American  squadron.  UI  am  mighty  glad,”  again 
writes  Dinwiddie,  “  that  the  General  is  arrived, 
which  I  hope  will  give  me  some  ease:  for  these 
twelve  months  past  I  have  been  a  perfect  slave.” 
He  conceived  golden  opinions  of  his  guest.  “He 
is,  I  think,  a  very  fine  officer,  and  a  sensible,  con¬ 
siderate  gentleman.  He  and  I  live  in  great  harmony.” 


175a]  WALPOLE'S  SKETCH  OF  BRADDOCK.  195 


Had  he  known  him  better,  he  might  have  praised 
him  less.  William  Shirley,  son  of  the  governor  of 
Massachusetts,  was  Braddock’s  secretary;  and  after 
an  acquaintance  of  some  months  wrote  to  his  friend 
Governor  Morris:  |We  have  a  general  most  judi¬ 
ciously  chosen  for  being  disqualified  for  the  service 
he  is  employed  in  in  almost  every  respect.  He  may 
be  brave  for  aught  I  know,  and  he  is  honest  in  pecu¬ 
niary  matters.”  1  The  astute  Franklin,  who  also  had 
good  opportunity  of  knowing  him,  says :  “  This 
general  was,  I  think,  a  brave  man,  and  might  prob¬ 
ably  have  made  a  good  figure  in  some  European  war. 
But  he  had  too  much  self-confidence;  too  high  an 
opinion  of  the  validity  of  regular  troops ;  too  mean  a 
one  of  both  Americans  and  Indians.”2  Horace 
Walpole,  in  his  function  of  gathering  and  immortaliz¬ 
ing  the  gossip  of  his  time,  has  left  a  sharply  drawn 
sketch  of  Braddock  in  two  letters  to  Sir  Horace 
Mann,  written  in  the  summer  of  this  year :  “  I  love 
to  give  you  an  idea  of  our  characters  as  they  rise 
upon  the  stage  of  history.  Braddock  is  a  very  Iro¬ 
quois  in  disposition.  He  had  a  sister  who,  having 
gamed  away  all  her  little  fortune  at  Bath,  hanged 
herself  with  a  truly  English  deliberation,  leaving 
only  a  note  upon  the  table  with  those  lines :  4  To  die 
is  landing  on  some  silent  shore,’  etc.  When  Brad¬ 
dock  was  told  of  it,  he  only  said:  4  Poor  Fanny!  I 
always  thought  she  would  play  till  she  would  be 

1  Shirley  the  younger  to  Morris,  23  May,  1755. 

2  Franklin,  Autobiography. 


196 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


forced  to  tuck  herself  up.  ’  ”  Undf  c  the  name  of  Miss 

Sylvia  S - ,  Goldsmith,  in  hh>  life  of  Nash,  tells 

the  story  of  this  unhappy  woman.  She  was  a  rash 
hut  warm-hearted  creature,  reduced  to  penury  and 
dependence,  not  so  much  by  a  passion  for  cards  as 
by  her  lavish  generosity  to  a  lover  ruined  by  his  own 
follies,  and  with  whom  her  relations  are  said  to  have 
been  entirely  innocent.  Walpole  continues:  “But  a 
more  ridiculous  story  of  Braddock,  and  which  is 
recorded  in  heroics  by  Fielding  in  his  4  Covent 
Garden  Tragedy,  ’  was  an  amorous  discussion  he 
had  formerly  with  a  Mrs.  Upton,  who  kept  him.  He 
had  gone  the  greatest  lengths  with  her  pin-money, 
and  was  still  craving.  One  day,  that  he  was  very 
pressing,  she  pulled  out  her  purse  and  showed  him 
that  she  had  but  twelve  or  fourteen  shillings  left. 
He  twitched  it  from  her:  ‘  Let  me  see  that.’  Tied 
up  at  the  other  end,  he  found  five  guineas.  He  took 
them,  tossed  the  empty  purse  in  her  face,  saying, 

4  Did  you  mean  to  cheat  me  ?  ’  and  never  went  near 
her  more.  Now  you  are  acquainted  with  General 
Braddock.” 

44  He  once  had  a  duel  with  Colonel  Gumley,  Lady 
Bath’s  brother,  who  had  been  his  great  friend.  As 
they  were  going  to  engage,  Gumley,  who  had  good- 
humor  and  wit  (Braddock  had  the  latter),  said, 
4  Braddock,  you  are  a  poor  dog !  Here,  take  my 
purse;  if  you  kill  me,  you  will  be  forced  to  run 
away,  and  then  you  will  not  have  a  shilling  to  sup¬ 
port  you. '  Braddock  refused  the  purse,  insisted  on 


1755.]  ANECDOTES  OF  BRADDOCK.  197 

the  duel,  was  disarmed,  and  would  not  even  ask  his 
life.  However,  with  all  his  brutality,  he  has  lately 
been  governor  of  Gibraltar,  where  he  made  himself 
adored,  and  where  scarce  any  governor  was  endured 
before.” 1 

Another  story  is  told  of  him  by  an  accomplished 
actress  of  the  time,  George  Anne  Bellamy,  whom 
Braddock  had  known  from  girlhood,  and  with  whom 
his  present  relations  seem  to  have  been  those  of  an 
elderly  adviser  and  friend.  “As  we  were  walking 
in  the  Park  one  day,  we  heard  a  poor  fellow  was  to 
be  chastised;  when  I  requested  the  General  to  beg 
off  the  offender.  Upon  his  application  to  the  general 
officer,  whose  name  was  Dury,  he  asked  Braddock 
how  long  since  he  had  divested  himself  of  the  brutal¬ 
ity  and  insolence  of  his  manners?  To  which  the 
other  replied:  ‘You  never  knew  me  insolent  to  my 
inferiors.  It  is  only  to  such  rude  men  as  yourself 
that  I  behave  with  the  spirit  which  I  think  they 
deserve.  ’  ” 

Braddock  made  a  visit  to  the  actress  on  the  even¬ 
ing  before  he  left  London  for  America.  “  Before  we 
parted,”  she  says,  “the  General  told  me  that  he 
should  never  see  me  more;  for  he  was  going  with  a 
handful  of  men  to  conquer  whole  nations ;  and  to  do 
this  they  must  cut  their  way  through  unknown 
woods.  He  produced  a  map  of  the  country,  saying 

1  Letters  of  Horace  Walpole  (1866),  ii.  459,  461.  It  is  doubtful  if 
Braddock  was  ever  governor  of  Gibraltar ;  though,  as  Mr.  Sargent 
shows,  he  once  commanded  a  regiment  there. 


198 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


at  the  same  time:  4  Dear  Pop,  we  are  sent  like  sacri¬ 
fices  to  the  altar,”’1  —  a  strange  presentiment  fora 
man  of  his  sturdy  temper. 

I  Whatever  were  his  failings,  he  feared  nothing,  and 
his  fidelity  and  honor  in  the  discharge  of  public 
trusts  were  never  questioned.  44  Desperate  in  his 
fortune,  brutal  in  his  behavior,  obstinate  in  his  senti¬ 
ments,”  again  writes  Walpole,  44  he  was  still  intrepid 
and  capable.” 2  He  was  a  veteran  in  years  and  in 
service,  having  entered  the  Coldstream  Guards  as 
ensign  in  1710. 

The  transports  bringing  the  two  regiments  from 
Ireland  all  arrived  safely  at  Hampton,  and  were 
ordered  to  proceed  up  the  Potomac  to  Alexandria, 
where  a  camp  was  to  be  formed.  Thither,  towards 
the  end  of  March,  went  Braddock  himself,  along 
with  Keppel  and  Dinwiddie,  in  the  governor’s  coach; 
while  his  aide-de-camp,  Orme,  his  secretary,  Shirley, 
and  the  servants  of  the  party  followed  on  horseback. 
Braddock  had  sent  for  the  elder  Shirley  and  other 
provincial  governors  to  meet  him  in  council ;  and  on 
the  fourteenth  of  April  they  assembled  in  a  tent  of 
the  newly  formed  encampment.  Here  was  Dinwiddie, 
who  thought  his  troubles  at  an  end,  and  saw  in  the 
red-coated  soldiery  the  near  fruition  of  his  hopes. 
Here,  too,  was  his  friend  and  ally,  Dobbs  of  North 
Carolina;  with  Morris  of  Pennsylvania,  fresh  from 

1  Apology  for  the  Life  of  George  Anne  Bellamy,  written  by  herself,  ii. 
204  (London,  1786). 

2  Walpole,  George  II.,  i.  390. 


1755.] 


rHE  COUNCIL. 


199 


Assembly  quarrels;  Sharpe  of  Maryland,  who,  hav¬ 
ing  once  been  a  soldier,  had  been  made  a  sort  of 
provisional  commander-in-chief  before  the  arrival 
of  Braddock;  and  the  ambitious  Delancey  of  New 
York,  who  had  lately  led  the  opposition  against  the 
governor  of  that  province,  and  now  filled  the  office 
himself,  —  a  position  that  needed  all  his  manifold 
adroitness.  But,  next  to  Braddock,  the  most  note¬ 
worthy  man  present  was  Shirley,  governor  of  Massa¬ 
chusetts.  There  was  a  fountain  of  youth  in  this  old 
lawyer.  A  few  years  before,  when  he  was  boundary 
commissioner  in  Paris,  he  had  had  the  indiscretion 
to  marry  a  young  Catholic  French  girl,  the  daughter 
of  his  landlord;  and  now,  when  more  than  sixty 
years  old,  he  thirsted  for  military  honors,  and 
delighted  in  contriving  operations  of  war.  He  was 
one  of  a  very  few  in  the  colonies  who  at  this  time 
entertained  the  idea  of  expelling  the  French  from 
the  continent.  He  held  that  Carthage  must  be 
destroyed;  and,  in  spite  of  his  Parisian  marriage, 
was  the  foremost  advocate  of  the  root-and-branch 
policy.  He  and  Lawrence,  governor  of  Nova  Scotia, 
had  concerted  an  attack  on  the  French  fort  of 
Beaus^jour;  and,  jointly  with  others  in  New  Eng¬ 
land,  he  had  planned  the  capture  of  Crown  Point, 
the  key  of  Lake  Champlain.  By  these  two  strokes 
and  by  fortifying  the  portage  between  the  Kennebec 
and  the  Chaudiere,  he  thought  that  the  northern 
colonies  would  be  saved  from  invasion,  and  placed 
in  a  position  to  become  themselves  invaders.  Then, 


200 


BRADDOCK. 


\ 


[1755. 


by  driving  the  enemy  from  Niagara,  securing  that 
important  pass,  and  thus  cutting  off  the  communica¬ 
tion  between  Canada  and  her  interior  dependencies, 
all  the  French  posts  in  the  West  would  die  of  inani¬ 
tion.1  In  order  to  commend  these  schemes  to  the 
home  government,  he  had  painted  in  gloomy  colors 
the  dangers  that  beset  the  British  colonies.  Our 
Indians,  he  said,  will  all  desert  us  if  we  submit  to 
French  encroachment.  Some  of  the  provinces  are 
full  of  negro  slaves,  ready  to  rise  against  their 
masters,  and  of  Roman  Catholics,  Jacobites,  indented 
servants,  and  other  dangerous  persons,  who  would 
aid  the  French  in  raising  a  servile  insurrection. 
Pennsylvania  is  in  the  hands  of  Quakers,  who  will 
not  fight,  and  of  Germans,  who  are  likely  enough  to 
join  the  enemy.  The  Dutch  of  Albany  would  do 
anything  to  save  their  trade.  A  strong  force  of 
French  regulars  might  occupy  that  place  without 
resistance,  then  descend  the  Hudson,  and,  with  the 
help  of  a  naval  force,  capture  New  York  and  cut  the 
British  colonies  asunder.3 

The  plans  against  Crown  Point  and  Beaus^jour 
had  already  found  the  approval  of  the  home  govern¬ 
ment  and  the  energetic  support  of  all  the  New 
England  colonies.  Preparation  for  them  was  in  full 
activity ;  and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  Shirley 
had  disengaged  himself  from  these  cares  to  attend 
the  Council  at  Alexandria.  He  and  Dinwiddie  stood 


1  Correspondence  of  Shirley,  1754,  1755. 

2  Shirley  to  Robinson,  24  January,  1755. 


1755.] 


PLAN  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN. 


201 


in  the  front  of  opposition  to  French  designs.  As 
they  both  defended  the  royal  prerogative  and  were 
strong  advocates  of  taxation  by  Parliament,  they 
have  found  scant  justice  from  American  writers. 
Yet  the  British  colonies  owed  them  a  debt  of  grati¬ 
tude,  and  the  American  States  owe  it  still. 

Braddock  laid  his  instructions  before  the  Council, 
and  Shirley  found  them  entirely  to  his  mind;  while 
the  general,  on  his  part,  fully  approved  the  schemes 
of  the  governor.  The  plan  of  the  campaign  was 
settled.  The  French  were  to  be  attacked  at  four 
points  at  once.  The  two  British  regiments  lately 
arrived  were  to  advance  on  Fort  Duquesne;  two 
new  regiments,  known  as  Shirley’s  and  Pepperrell’s, 
just  raised  in  the  provinces,  and  taken  into  the  King’s 
pay,  were  to  reduce  Niagara;  a  body  of  provincials 
from  New  England,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey  was 
to  seize  Crown  Point;  and  another  body  of  New 
England  men  to  capture  Beausdjour  and  bring 
Acadia  to  complete  subjection.  Braddock  himself 
was  to  lead  the  expedition  against  Fort  Duquesne. 
He  asked  Shirley,  who,  though  a  soldier  only  in 
theory,  had  held  the  rank  of  colonel  since  the  last 
war,  to  charge  himself  with  that  against  Niagara;  and 
Shirley  eagerly  assented.  The  movement  on  Crown 
Point  was  intrusted  to  Colonel  William  Johnson,  by 
reason  of  his  influence  over  the  Indians  and  his  repu¬ 
tation  for  energy,  capacity,  and  faithfulness.  Lastly,- 
the  Acadian  enterprise  was  assigned  to  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Monckton,  a  regular  officer  of  merit. 


202  BRADDOCK.  [1755. 

To  strike  this  fourfold  blow  in  time  of  peace  was 
a  scheme  worthy  of  Newcastle  and  of  Cumberland. 
The  pretext  was  that  the  positions  to  be  attacked 
were  all  on  British  soil;  that  in  occupying  them  the 
French  had  been  guilty  of  invasion;  and  that  to 
expel  the  invaders  would  be  an  act  of  self-defence. 
Yet  in  regard  to  two  of  these  positions,  the  French, 
if  they  had  no  other  right,  might  at  least  claim  one 
of  prescription.  Crown  P oint  had  been  twenty-four 
years  in  their  undisturbed  possession,  while  it  was 
three  quarters  of  a  century  Since  they  first  occu¬ 
pied  Niagara;  and,  though  New  York  claimed  the 
ground,  no  serious  attempt  had  been  made  to  dis¬ 
lodge  them. 

Other  matters  now  engaged  the  Council.  Brad- 
dock,  in  accordance  with  his  instructions,  asked  the 
governors  to  urge^upon  their  several  assemblies  the 
establishment  of  a  general  fund  for  the  service  of 
the  campaign;  but. the  governors  were  all  of  opinion 
that  the  assemblies  would  refuse,  —  each  being 
resolved  to  keep  the  control  of  its  money  in  its  own 
hands ;  and  all  present,  with  one  voice,  advised  that 
the  colonies  should  be  compelled  by  Act  of  Parlia¬ 
ment  to  contribute  in  due  proportion  to  the  support 
of  the  war.  Braddock  next  asked  if,  in  the  judg¬ 
ment  of  the  Council,  it  would  not  be  well  to  send 
Colonel  Johnson  with  full  powers  to  treat  with  the 
Five  Nations,  who  had  been  driven  to  the  verge  of 
an  outbreak  by  the  misconduct  of  the  Dutch  Indian 
commissioners  at  Albany.  The  measure  was  cor- 


1755.] 


PREPARATION. 


203 


dially  approved,  as  was  also  another  suggestion  of 
the  general,  that  vessels  should  be  built  at  Oswego 
to  command  Lake  Ontario.  The  Council  then 
dissolved. 

Shirley  hastened  back  to  New  England,  burdened 
with  the  preparation  for  three  expeditions  and  the 
command  of  one  of  them.  Johnson,  who  had  been  in 
the  camp,  though  not  in  the  Council,  went  back  to 
Albany,  provided  with  a  commission  as  sole  superin¬ 
tendent  of  Indian  affairs,  and  charged,  besides,  with 
the  enterprise  against  Crown  Point,  while  an  express 
was  despatched  to  Monckton  at  Halifax,  with  orders 
to  set  at  once  to  his  work  of  capturing  Beaus^jour.1 

In  regard  to  Braddock’s  part  of  the  campaign, 
there  had  been  a  serious  error.  If,  instead  of  landing 
in  Virginia  and  moving  on  Fort  Duquesne  by  the 
long  and  circuitous  route  of  Will’s  Creek,  the  two 
regiments  had  disembarked  at  Philadelphia  and 
marched  westward,  the  way  would  have  been  short¬ 
ened,  and  would  have  lain  through  one  of  the  richest 
and  most  populous  districts  on  the  continent,  filled 
with  supplies  of  every  kind.  In  Virginia,  on  the 
other  hand,  and  in  the  adjoining  province  of  Mary- 


1  Minutes  of  a  Council  held  at  the  Camp  at  Alexandria,  in  Virginia, 
April  14, 1755.  Instructions  to  Major-General  Braddock,  25  November, 
1754.  Secret  Instructions  to  Major-General  Braddock,  same  date. 
Napier  to  Braddock,  written  by  Order  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  25 
November,  1754,  in  Precis  des  Faits,  Pieces  justifcatives,  168.  Orme, 
Journal  of  Braddock’ s  Expedition.  Instructions  to  Governor  Shirley. 
Correspondence  of  Shirley.  Correspondence  of  Braddock  (Public 
Record  Office).  Johnson  Papers.  Dinwiddle  Papers.  Pennsylvania 
Archives ,  ii. 


V 


204 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


land,  wagons,  horses,  and  forage  were  scarce.  The 
enemies  of  the  Administration  ascribed  this  blunder 
to  the  influence  of  the  Quaker  merchant,  J ohn 
Hanbury,  whom  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  had  con¬ 
sulted  as  a  person  familiar  with  American  affairs. 
Hanbury,  who  was  a  prominent  stockholder  in  the 
Ohio  Company,  and  who  traded  largely  in  Virginia, 
saw  it  for  his  interest  that  the  troops  should  pass 
that  way,  and  is  said  to  have  brought  the  duke  to 
this  opinion.1  A  writer  of  the  time  thinks  that  if 
they  had  landed  in  Pennsylvania,  forty  thousand 
pounds  would  have  been  saved  in  money,  and  six 
weeks  in  time.2 

Not  only  were  supplies  scarce,  but  the  people 
showed  such  unwillingness  to  furnish  them,  and 
such  apathy  in  aiding  the  expedition,  that  even 
Washington  was  provoked  to  declare  that  “they 
ought  to  be  chastised.”3  Many  of  them  thought 
that  the  alarm  about  French  encroachment  was  a 
device  of  designing  politicians;  and  they  did  not 
awake  to  a  full  consciousness  of  the  peril  till  it  was 
forced  upon  them  by  a  deluge  of  calamities,  produced 
by  the  purblind  folly  of  their  own  representatives, 
who,  instead  of  frankly  promoting  the  expedition, 

1  Shebbeare’ s  Tracts,  Letter  I.  Dr.  Shebbeare  was  a  political 
pamphleteer,  pilloried  by  one  ministry,  and  rewarded  by  the  next. 
He  certainly  speaks  of  Hanbury,  though  he  does  not  give  his  name. 
Compare  Sargent,  107,  162. 

2  Gentleman’ s  Magazine ,  August,  1755. 

8  Writings  of  Washington,  ii.  78.  He  speaks  of  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania. 


I 


1755.] 


HIS  DIFFICULTIES. 


205 


displayed  a  perverse  and  exasperating  narrowness 
which  chafed  Braddock  to  fury.  He  praises  the 
New  England  colonies,  and  echoes  Dinwiddie’s 
declaration  that  they  have  shown  a  “fine  martial 
spirit,”  and  he  commends  Virginia  as  having  done 
far  better  than  her  neighbors ;  but  for  Pennsylvania 
he  finds  no  words  to  express  his  wrath.1  He  knew 
nothing  of  the  intestine  war  between  proprietaries 
and  people,  and  hence  could  see  no  palliation  for  a 
conduct  which  threatened  to  ruin  both  the  expedition 
and  the  colony.  Everything  depended  on  speed, 
and  speed  was  impossible ;  for  stores  and  provisions 
were  not  ready,  though  notice  to,  furnish  them  had 
been  given  months  before.  The  quartermaster- 
general,  Sir  John  Sinclair,  “stormed  like  a  lion 
rampant,  ”  but  with  small  effect.2  Contracts  broken 
or  disavowed,  wrant  of  horses,  want  of  wagons,  want 
of  forage,  want  of  wholesome  food,  or  sufficient  food 
of  any  kind,  caused  such  delay  that  the  report  of  it 
reached  England,  and  drew  from  Walpole  the  com¬ 
ment  that  Braddock  was  in  no  hurry  to  be  scalped. 
In  reality  he  was  maddened  with  impatience  and 
vexation. 

A  powerful  ally  presently  came  to  his  aid  in  the 
shape  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  then  postmaster-general 
of  Pennsylvania.  \That  sagacious  personage,  — the 
sublime  of  common*  ense,  about  equal  in  his  instincts 

1  Braddock  to  Robinson,  18  March,  19  April,  5  June,  1755,  etc.  On 
the  attitude  of  Pennsylvania,  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  vi.,  passim. 

2  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  vi.  368. 


206  BRADDOCK.  [1755 

and  motives  of  character  to  the  respectable  average 
of  the  New  England  that  produced  him,  but  gifted 
with  a  versatile  power  of  brain  rarely  matched  on 
earth,  —  was  then  divided  between  his  strong  desire 
to  repel  a  danger  of  which  he  saw  the  imminence, 
and  his  equally  strong  antagonism  to  the  selfish 
claims  of  the  Penns,  proprietaries  of  Pennsylvania. 
This  last  motive  had  determined  his  attitude  towards 
their  representative,  the  governor,  and  led  him  into 
an  opposition  as  injurious  to  the  military  good  name 
of  the  province  as  it  was  favorable  to  its  political 
longings.  In  the  present  case  there  was  no  such 
conflict  of  inclinations;  he  could  help  Braddock 
without  hurting  Pennsylvania.  He  and  his  son  had 
visited  the  camp,  and  found  the  general  waiting 
restlessly  for  the  report  of  the  agents  whom  he  had 
sent  to  collect  wagons.  “I  stayed  with  him,,,  says 
Franklin,  “several  days,  and  dined  with  him  daily. 
When  I  was  about  to  depart,  the  returns  of  wagons 
to  be  obtained  were  brought  in,  by  which  it  appeared 
that  they  amounted  only  to  twenty-five,  and  not  all 
of  these  were  in  serviceable  condition.”  On  this  the 
general  and  his  officers  declared  that  the  expedition 
was  at  an  end,  and  denounced  the  ministry  for  send¬ 
ing  them  into  a  country  void  of  the  means  of  trans¬ 
portation.  Franklin  remarked  that  it  was  a  pity 
they  had  not  landed  in  Pennsylvania,  where  almost 
every  farmer  had  his  wagon.  Braddock  caught 
eagerly  at  his  words,  and  begged  that  he  would  use 
his  influence  to  enable  the  troops  to  move.  Franklin 


WILL’S  CREEK. 


1755.] 


207 


went  back  to  Pennsylvania,  issued  an  address  to  the 
farfners  appealing  to  their  interest  and  their  fears, 
and  m  a  fortnight  procured  a  hundred  and  fifty 
wagons,  with  a  large  number  of  horses.1  Braddock, 
grateful  to  his  benefactor,  and  enraged  at  everybody 
else,  pronounced  him  “  Almost  the  only  instance  of 
ability  and  honesty  I  have  known  in  these  provinces.”  2 
More  wagons  and  more  horses  gradually  arrived,  and 
at  the  eleventh  hour  the  march  began. 

On  the  tenth  of  May  Braddock  reached  Will’s 
Creek,  where  the  whole  force  was  now  gathered, 
having  marched  thither  by  detachments  along  the 
banks  of  the  Potomac.  This  old  trading-station  of 
the  Ohio  Company  had  been  transformed  into  a 
military  post  and  named  Fort  Cumberland.  During 
the  past  winter  the  independent  companies  which 
had  failed  Washington  in  his  need  had  been  at  work 
here  to  prepare  a  base  of  operations  for  Braddock. 
Their  axes  had  been  of  more  avail  than  their  muskets. 
A  broad  wound  had  been  cut  in  the  bosom  of  the 
forest,  and  the  murdered  oaks  and  chestnuts  turned 
into  ramparts,  barracks,  and  magazines.  Fort  Cum¬ 
berland  was  an  enclosure  of  logs  set  upright  in  the 
ground,  pierced  with  loopholes,  and  armed  with  ten 
small  cannon.  It  stood  on  a  rising  ground  near  the 
point  where  Will’s  Creek  joined  the  Potomac,  and 


1  Franklin>  Autobiography.  Advertisement  of  B.  Franklin  for 
\\agons;  Address  to  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Counties  of  York ,  Lancas¬ 
ter,  and  Cumberland,  in  Pennsylvania  Archives,  ii.  294. 

2  Braddock  to  Robinson,  5  June,  1755.  The  letters  of  Braddock 
here  cited  are  the  originals  in  the  Public  Record  Office. 


208  braddock.  C1755- 

the  forest  girded  it  like  a  mighty  hedge,  or  rather 
like  a  paling  of  gaunt  brown  stems  upholding  a 
canopy  of  green.  All  around  spread  illimitable 
woods,  wrapping  hill,  valley,  and  mountain.  The 
spot  was  an  oasis  in  a  desert  of  leaves,  —  if  the  name 
oasis  can  he  given  to  anything  so  rude  and  harsh.  In 
this  rugged  area,  or  “clearing,”  all  Braddock’s  force 
was  now  assembled,  amounting,  regulars,  provincials, 
and  sailors,  to  about  twenty-two  hundred  men.  The 
two  regiments,  Halket’s  and  Dunbar’s,  had  been 
completed  by  enlistment  in  Virginia  to  seven  hun¬ 
dred  men  each.  Of  Virginians  there  were  nine 
companies  of  fifty  men,  who  found  no  favor  in  the 
eyes  of  Braddock  or  his  officers.  To  Ensign  Allen 
of  Halket’s  regiment  was  assigned  the  duty  of  “mak¬ 
ing  them  as  much  like  soldiers  as  possible,  1  that 
is,  of  drilling  them  like  regulars.  The  general  had 
little  hope  of  them,  and  informed  Sir  Thomas  Rob¬ 
inson  that  “their  slothful  and  languid  disposition 
renders  them  very  unfit  for  military  service,”  a 
point  on  which  he  lived  to  change  his  mind. .  Thirty 
sailors,  whom  Commodore  Keppel  had  lent  him,  were 
more  to  his  liking,  and  were  in  fact  of  value  in  many 
ways.  He  had  now  about  six  hundred  baggage- 
horses,  besides  those  of  the  artillery,  all  weakening 
daily  on  their  diet  of  leaves ;  for  no  grass  was  to  be 
found.  There  was  great  show  of  discipline,  and  little 
real  order.  Braddock’s  executive  capacity  seems  to 
have  been  moderate,  and  his  dogged,  imperious 

i  Orme,  Journal. 


HIS  ILL-IIUMOR. 


209 


1755.] 


temper,  rasped  by  disappointments,  was  in  constant 
irritation.  “He  looks  upon  tbe  country,  I  believe,” 
writes  Washington,  “as  void  of  honor  or  honesty. 
We  have  frequent  disputes  on  this  head,  which  are 
maintained  with  warmth  on  both  sides,  especially  on 
his,  as  he  is  incapable  of  arguing  without  it,  or 
giving  up  any  point  he  asserts,  be  it  ever  so  incom¬ 
patible  with  reason  or  common  sense.”1  Braddock’s 
secretary,  the  younger  Shirley,  writing  to  his  friend 
Governor  Morris,  spoke  thus  irreverently  of  his 
chief:  “As  the  King  said  of  a  neighboring  governor 
of  yours  [Sharpe],  when  proposed  for  the  command 
of  the  American  forces  about  a  twelvemonth  ago, 
and  recommended  as  a  very  honest  man,  though  not 
remarkably  able,  4  a  little  more  ability  and  a  little 
less  honesty  upon  the  present  occasion  might  serve 
our  turn  better.  ’  It  is  a  joke  to  suppose  that  second¬ 
ary  officers  can  make  amends  for  the  defects  of  the 
first;  the  mainspring  must  be  the  mover.  As  to  the 
others,  I  don’t  think  we  have  much  to  boast;  some 
are  insolen^  and  ignorant,  others  capable,  but  rather 
aiming  at  showing  their  own  abilities  than  making  a 
proper  use  of  them.  I  have  a  very  great  love  for  my 
friend  Orme,  and  think  it  uncommonly  fortunate  for 
our  leader  that  he  is  under  the  influence  of  so  honest 
and  capable  a  man;  but  I  wish  for  the  sake  of  the 
public  he  had  some  more  experience  of  business,  par¬ 
ticularly  in  America.  I  am  greatly  disgusted  at  see¬ 
ing  an  expedition  (as  it  is  called),  so  ill-concerted 

1  Writings  of  Washington ,  ii.  77. 


VOL.  I. — 14 


210 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


originally  in  England,  so  improperly  conducted  since 
in  America.”1 

Captain  Robert  Orme,  of  whom  Shirley  speaks, 
was  aide-de-camp  to  Braddock,  and  author  of  a  copi¬ 
ous  and  excellent  Journal  of  the  expedition,  now  in 
the  British  Museum.2  His  portrait,  painted  at  full 
length  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  hangs  in  the  National 
Gallery  at  London.  He  stands  by  his  horse,  a  gallant 
young  figure,  with  a  face  pale,  yet  rather  handsome, 
booted  to  the  knee,  his  scarlet  coat,  ample  waistcoat, 
and  small  three-cornered  hat  all  heavy  with  gold  lace. 
The  general  had  two  other  aides-de-camp,  Captain 
Roger  Morris  and  Colonel  George  Washington, 
whom  he  had  invited,  in  terms  that  do  him  honor, 
to  become  one  of  his  military  family. 

It  has  been  said  that  Braddock  despised  not  only 
provincials,  but  Indians.  Nevertheless,  he  took 
some  pains  to  secure  their  aid,  and  complained  that 
Indian  affairs  had  been  so  ill  conducted  by  the  prov¬ 
inces  that  it  was  hard  to  gain  their  confidence. 
This  was  true ;  the  tribes  had  been  alienated  by 
gross  neglect.  Had  they  been  protected  from 
injustice  and  soothed  by  attentions  and  presents,  the 
Five  Nations,  Delawares,  and  Shawanoes  would  have 
been  retained  as  friends.  But  their  complaints  had 
been  slighted,  and  every  gift  begrudged.  The  trader 

1  Shirley  the  younger  to  Morris ,  23  May,  1755,  in  Colonial  Records 
of  Pa.,  vi.  404. 

2  Printed  by  Sargent,  in  his  excellent  monograph  of  Braddock's 
Expedition. 


1755.] 


INDIAN  ALLIES. 


211 


Croghan  brought,  however,  about  fifty  warriors, 
with  as  many  women  and  children,  to  the  camp  at 
Fort  Cumberland.  They  were  objects  of  great 
curiosity  to  the  soldiers,  who  gazed  with  astonish¬ 
ment  on  their  faces,  painted  red,  yellow,  and  black, 
their  ears  slit  and  hung  with  pendants,  and  their 
heads  close  shaved,  except  the  feathered  scalp-lock 
at  the  crown.  “In  the  day,”  says  an  officer,  “they 
are  in  our  camp,  and  in  the  night  they  go  into  their 
own,  where  they  dance  and  make  a  most  horrible 
noise.”  Braddock  received  them  several  times  in 
his  tent,  ordered  the  guard  to  salute  them,  made* 
them  speeches,  caused  cannon  to  be  fired  and  drums 
and  fifes  to  play  in  their  honor,  regaled  them  with 
rum,  and  gave  them  a  bullock  for  a  feast;  whereupon, 
being  much  pleased,  they  danced  a  war-dance,  de¬ 
scribed  by  one  spectator  as  “  droll  and  odd,  showing 
how  they  scalp  and  fight;”  after  which,  says  an¬ 
other,  “  they  set  up  the  most  horrid  song  or  cry  that 
ever  I  heard.”1  These  warriors,  with  a  few  others, 
promised  the  general  to  join  him  on  the  march ;  but 
he  apparently  grew  tired  of  them,  for  a  famous  chief, 
called  Scarroyaddy,  afterwards  complained:  “He 
looked  upon  us  as  dogs,  and  would  never  hear  any¬ 
thing  that  we  said  to  him.”  Only  eight  of  them 
remained  with  him  to  the  end.2 

Another  ally  appeared  at  the  camp.  This  was 

1  Journal  of  a  Naval  Officer,  in  Sargent.  The  Expedition  of  Major- 
General  Braddock ,  being  Extracts  of  Letters  from  an  Officer  (London, 
1755). 

2  Statement  of  George  Croghan,  in  Sargent,  Appendix  III. 


212 


BRADDOCK. 


T1755. 

w 

a  personage  long  known  in  Western  fireside  story  as 

f Captain  Jack,  the  Black  Hunter,  or  the  Black  Rifle, 
t  was  said  of  him  that  having  been  a  settler  on  the 
farthest  frontier,  in  the  Valley  of  the  Juniata,  he 
returned  one  evening  to  his  cabin  and  found  it  burned 
to  the  ground  by  Indians,  and  the  bodies  of  his  wife 
and  children  lying  among  the  ruins.  He  vowed 
undying  vengeance,  raised  a  band  of  kindred  spirits, 
dressed  and  painted  like  Indians,  and  became  the 
scourge  of  the  red  man  and  the  champion  of  the 
white.  But  he  and  his  wild  crew,  useful  as  they 
might  have  been,  shocked  Braddock’s  sense  of 
military  fitness ;  and  he  received  them  so  coldly  that 
they  left  him.1 

It  was  the  tenth  of  June  before  the  army  was  well 
on  its  march.  Three  hundred  axemen  led  the  way, 
to  cut  and  clear  the  road;  and  the  long  train  of  pack- 
horses,  wagons,  and  cannon  toiled  on  behind,  over 
the  stumps,  roots,  and  stones  of  the  narrow  track, 
the  regulars  and  provincials  marching  in  the  forest 
close  on  either  side.  Squads  of  men  were  thrown 
out  on  the  flanks,  and  scouts  ranged  the  woods  to 
guard  against  surprise;  for,  with  all  his  scorn  of 
Indians  and  Canadians,  Braddock  did  not  neglect 
reasonable  precautions.  Thus,  foot  by  foot,  they 
advanced  into  the  waste  of  lonely  mountains  that 
divided  the  streams  flowing  to  the  Atlantic  from 
those  flowing  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  —  a  realm  of 

1  See  several  traditional  accounts  and  contemporary  letters  in 
Hazard’s  Pennsylvania  Register,  iv.  389,  390,  416;  v.  191. 


1755.] 


THE  March. 


213 


forests  ancient  as  the  world.  The  road  was  hut 
twelve  feet  wide,  and  the  line  of  march  often  extended 
four  miles.  It  was  like  a  thin,  long  party-colored 
snake,  red,  blue,  and  brown,  trailing  slowly  through 
the  depth  of  leaves,  creeping  round  inaccessible 
heights,  crawling  over  ridges,  moving  always  in 
dampness  and  shadow,  by  rivulets  and  waterfalls, 
crags  and  chasms,  gorges  and  shaggy  steeps.  In 
glimpses  only,  through  jagged  houghs  and  flickering 
leaves,  did  this  wild  primeval  world  reveal  itself, 
with  its  dark  green  mountains,  flecked  with  the 
morning  mist,  and  its  distant  summits  pencilled  in 
dreamy  blue.  The  army  passed  the  main  Alleghany, 
Meadow  Mountain,  and  Great  Savage  Mountain, 
and  traversed  the  funereal  pine-forest  afterwards 
called  the  Shades  of  Death.  No  attempt  was  made 
to  interrupt  their  march,  though  the  commandant  of 
Fort  Duquesne  had  sent  out  parties  for  that  purpose. 
A  few  French  and  Indians  hovered  about  them,  now 
and  then  scalping  a  straggler  or  inscribing  filthy 
insults  on  trees;  while  others  fell  upon  the  border 
settlements  which  the  advance  of  the  troops  had  left 
defenceless.  Here  they  were  more  successful,  butcher¬ 
ing  about  thirty  persons,  chiefly  women  and  children. 

It  was  the  eighteenth  of  June  before  the  army 
reached  a  place  called  the  Little  Meadows,  less  than 
thirty  miles  from  Fort  Cumberland.  Fever  and 
dysentery  among  the  men,  and  the  weakness  and 
worthlessness  of  many  of  the  horses,  joined  to  the 
extreme  difficulty  of  the  road,  so  retarded  them  that 


214 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


they  could  move  scarcely  more  than  three  miles  a 
day.  Braddock  consulted  with  Washington,  who 
advised  him  to  leave  the  heavy  baggage  to  follow  as 
it  could,  and  push  forward  with  a  body  of  chosen 
troops.  This  counsel  was  given  in  view  of  a  report 
that  five  hundred  regulars  were  on  the  way  to  rein¬ 
force  Fort  Duquesne.  It  was  adopted.  Colonel 
Dunbar  was  left  to  command  the  rear  division,  whose 
powers  of  movement  were  now  reduced  to  the  lowest 
point.  The  advance  corps,  consisting  of  about  twelve 
hundred  soldiers,  besides  officers  and  drivers,  began 
its  march  on  the  nineteenth  with  such  artillery  as 
was  thought  indispensable,  thirty  wagons,  and  a 
large  number  of  pack-horses.  “  The  prospect,”  writes 
Washington  to  his  brother,  “conveyed  infinite  delight 
to  my  mind,  though  I  was  excessively  ill  at  the 
time.  But  this  prospect  was  soon  clouded,  and  my 
hopes  brought  very  low  indeed  when  I  found  that, 
instead  of  pushing  on  with  vigor  without  regarding 
a  little  rough  road,  they  were  halting  to  level  every 
mole-hill,  and  to  erect  bridges  over  every  brook,  by 
which  means  we  were  four  days  in  getting  twelve 
miles.”  It  was  not  till  the  seventh  of  July  that 
they  neared  the  mouth  of  Turtle  Creek,  a  stream 
entering  the  Monongahela  about  eight  miles  from 
the  French  fort.  The  way  was  direct  and  short,  but 
would  lead  them  through  a  difficult  country  and  a 
defile  so  perilous  that  Braddock  resolved  to  ford 
the  Monongahela  to  avoid  this  danger,  and  then 
ford  it  again  to  reach  his  destination. 


1755.] 


THE  FRENCH  FORT. 


215 


Fort  Duquesne.  stood  on  the  point  of  land  where 
the  Alleghany  and  the  Monongahela  join  to  form  the 
Ohio,  and  where  now  stands  Pittsburg,  with  its 
swarming  population,  its  restless  industries,  the 
clang  of  its  forges,  and  its  chimneys  vomiting  foul 
smoke  into  the  face  of  heaven.  At  that  early  day  a 
white  flag  fluttering  over  a  cluster  of  palisades  and 
embankments  betokened  the  first  intrusion  of  civilized 
men  upon  a  scene  which,  a  few  months  before, 
breathed  the  repose  of  a  virgin  wilderness,  voiceless 
but  for  the  lapping  of  waves  upon  the  pebbles,  or 
the  note  of  some  lonely  bird.  But  now  the  sleep  of 
ages  was  broken,  and  bugle  and  drum  told  the 
astonished  forest  that  its  doom  was  pronounced  and 
its  days  numbered.  The  fort  was  a  compact  little 
work,  solidly  built  and  strong,  compared  with  others 
on  the  continent.  It  was  a  square  of  four  bastions, 
with  the  water  close  on  two  sides,  and  the  other  two 
protected  by  rqvelins,  ditch,  glacis,  and  covered 
way.  The  ramparts  on  these  sides  were  of  squared 
logs,  filled  in  with  earth,  and  ten  feet  or  more  thick. 
The  two  water  sides  were  enclosed  by  a  massive 
stockade  of  upright  logs,  twelve  feet  high,  mortised 
together  and  loopholed.  The  armament  consisted  of 
a  number  of  small  cannon  mounted  on  the  bastions. 
A  gate  and  drawbridge  on  the  east  side  gave  access 
to  the  area  within,  which  was  surrounded  by  bar¬ 
racks  for  the  soldiers,  officers’  quarters,  the  lodgings 
of  the  commandant,  a  guard-house  and  a  storehouse, 
all  built  partly  of  logs  and  partly  of  boards.  There 


216 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


were  no  casements,  and  the  place  was  commanded 
by  a  high  woody  hill  beyond  the  Monongahela.  The 
forest  had  been  cleared  away  to  the  distance  of  more 
than  a  musket-shot  from  the  ramparts,  and  the 
stumps  were  hacked  level  with  the  ground.  Here, 
just  outside  the  ditch,  bark  cabins  had  been  built  for 
such  of  the  troops  and  Canadians  as  could  not  find 
room  within;  and  the  rest  of  the  open  space  was 
covered  with  Indian  corn  and  other  crops.1 

The  garrison  consisted  of  a  few  companies  of  the 
regular  troops  stationed  permanently  in  the  colony, 
and  to  these  were  added  a  considerable  number  of 
Canadians.  Contrecoeur  still  held  the  command.2 
Under  him  were  three  other  captains,  Beaujeu, 
Dumas,  and  Ligneris.  Besides  the  troops  and  Cana¬ 
dians,  eight  hundred  Indian  warriors,  mustered 
from  far  and  near,  had  built  their  wigwams  and 
camp-sheds  on  the  open  ground,  or  under  the  edge  of 
the  neighboring  woods,  —  very  little  to  the  advantage 
of  the  young  corn.  Some  w^ere  baptized  savages 
settled  in  Canada,  —  Caughnawagas  from  Saut  St. 
Louis,  Abenakis  from  St.  Francis,  and  Hurons  from 
Lorette,  whose  chief  bore  the  name  of  Anastase,  in 
honor  of  that  Father  of  the  Church.  The  rest  were 


1  M’Kinney’s  Description  of  Fort  Duquesne,  1756,  in  Hazard's 
Pennsylvania  Register ,  viii.  318.  Letters  of  Robert  Stobo,  Hostage  at 
Fort  Duquesne,  1754,  in  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,v i.  141,  161.  Stobo’s 
Plan  of  Fort  Duquesne,  1754.  Journal  of  Thomas  Forbes,  1755.  Letter 
of  Captain  Haslet,  1758,  in  Olden  Time,  i.  184.  Plan  of  Fort  Duquesn* 
in  Public  Record  Office. 

2  See  Appendix  D. 


1755.] 


A  YOUNG  CAPTIVE. 


217 


unmitigated  heathen,  —  Pottawattamies  and  Ojibwas 
from  the  northern  lakes  under  Charles  Langlade,  the 
same  bold  partisan  who  had  led  them,  three  years 
before,  to  attack  the  Miamis  at  Pickawillany ; 
Shawanoes  and  Mingoes  from  the  Ohio ;  and  Ottawas 
from  Detroit,  commanded,  it  is  said,  by  that  most 
redoubtable  of  savages,  Pontiac.  The  law  of  the 
survival  of  the  fittest  had  wrought  on  this  hetero¬ 
geneous  crew  through  countless  generations;  and 
with  the  primitive  Indian,  the  fittest  was  the  hardiest, 
fiercest,  most  adroit,  and  most  wily.  Baptized  and 
heathen  alike,  they  had  just  enjoyed  a  diversion 
greatly  to  their  taste.  A  young  Pennsylvanian 
named  James  Smith,  a  spirited  and  intelligent  boy  of 
eighteen,  had  been  waylaid  by  three  Indians  on  the 
western  borders  of  the  province  and  led  captive  to 
the  fort.  When  the  party  came  to  the  edge  of  the 
clearing,  his  captors,  who  had  shot  and  scalped  his 
companion,  raised  the  scalp-yell;  whereupon  a  din 
of  responsive  whoops  and  firing  of  guns  rose  from  all 
the  Indian  camps,  and  their  inmates  swarmed  out 
like  bees,  while  the  French  in  the  fort  shot  off 
muskets  and  cannon  to  honor  the  occasion.  The 
unfortunate  boy,  the  object  of  this  obstreperous 
rejoicing,  presently  saw  a  multitude  of  savages, 
naked,  hideously  bedaubed  with  red,  blue,  black, 
and  brown,  and  armed  with  sticks  or  clubs,  ranging 
themselves  in  two  long  parallel  lines,  between  which 
he  was  told  that  he  must  run,  the  faster  the  better, 
as  they  would  beat  him  all  the  way.  He  ran  with 


218 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


his  best  speed,  under  a  shower  of  blows,  and  had 
nearly  reached  the  end  of  the  course,  when  he  was 
knocked  down.  He  tried  to  rise,  but  was  blinded  by 
a  handful  of  sand  thrown  into  his  face;  and  then 
they  beat  him  till  he  swooned.  On  coming  to  his 
senses  he  found  himself  in  the  fort,  with  the  surgeon 
opening  a  vein  in  his  arm  and  a  crowd  of  French  and 
Indians  looking  on.  In  a  few  days  he  was  able  to 
walk  with  the  help  of  a  stick;  and,  coming  out  from 
his  quarters  one  morning,  he  saw  a  memorable  ^ 

scene.1 

Three  days  before,  an  Indian  had  brought  the 
report  that  the  English  were  approaching ;  and  the 
Chevalier  de  la  Perade  was  sent  out  to  reconnoitre.2 
He  returned  on  the  next  day,  the  seventh,  with  news 
that  they  were  not  far  distant.  On  the  eighth  the 
brothers  Norman ville  went  out,  and  found  that  they 
were  within  six  leagues  of  the  fort.  The  French 
were  in  great  excitement  and  alarm ;  but  Contrecceur 
at  length  took  a  resolution,  which  seems  to  have 
been  inspired  by  Beaujeu.3  It  was  determined  to 
meet  the  enemy  on  the  march,  and  ambuscade  them 
if  possible  at  the  crossing  of  the  Monongahela,  or 
some  other  favorable  spot.  Beaujeu  proposed  the 

1  Account  of  Remarkable  Occurrences  in  the  Life  of  Colonel  James 
Smith,  written  by  himself  Perhaps  the  best  of  all  the  numerous 
narratives  of  captives  among  the  Indians. 

2  Relation  de  Godefroy,  in  Shea,  Bataille  du  MalangueuU  (Mononga¬ 
hela  ) . 

8  Dumas,  however,  declares  that  Beaujeu  adopted  the  plan  at 
his  suggestion.  Dumas  au  Mimstre ,  24  Juillet ,  1756. 


1755.] 


BEAUJEU. 


219 


plan  to  the  Indians,  and  offered  them  the  war- 
hatchet;  but  they  would  not  take  it.  “Do  you  want 
to  die,  my  father,  and  sacrifice  us  besides?”  That 
night  they  held  a  council,  and  in  the  morning  again 
refused  to  go.  Beaujeu  did  not  despair.  “I  am 
determined,”  he  exclaimed,  “to  meet  the  English. 
What!  will  you  let  your  father  go  alone?”1  The 
greater  part  caught  fire  at  his  words,  promised  to 
follow  him,  and  put  on  their  war-paint.  Beaujeu 
received  the  communion,  then  dressed  himself  like  a 
savage,  and  joined  the  clamorous  throng.  Open 
barrels  of  gunpowder  and  bullets  were  set  before  the 
gate  of  the  fort,  and  James  Smith,  painfully  climbing 
the  rampart  with  the  help  of  his  stick,  looked  down 
on  the  warrior  rabble  as,  huddling  together,  wild 
with  excitement,  they  scooped  up  the  contents  to  fill 
their  powder-horns  and  pouches.  Then,  band  after 
band,  they  filed  off  along  the  forest  track  that  led  to 
the  ford  of  the  Monongahela.  They  numbered  six 
hundred  and  thirty-seven;  and  with  them  went 
thirty-six  French  officers  and  cadets,  seventy-two 
regular  soldiers,  and  a  hundred  and  forty-six  Cana¬ 
dians,  or  about  nine  hundred  in  all.2  At  eight 
o’clock  the  tumult  was  over.  The  broad  clearing 
lay  lonely  and  still,  and  Contrecceur,  with  what  was 

1  Relation  depuis  le  Depart  des  Trouppes  de  Quebec  jusqu’au  30  du 
Mois  de  Septembre,  1755. 

2  Liste  des  Officiers,  Cadets,  Soldats,  Miliciens,  et  Sauvages  qui  com - 
posaient  le  Ddtachement  qui  a  €td  au  devant  d’un  Corps  de  2,000  Anglois 
a  3  Liev.es  du  Fort  Duquesne,  le  9  Juillet,  1755;  joint  a  la  Lettrv  de  M. 
Bigot  du  6  Aout,  1755. 


220  BRADDOCK.  [1755. 

left  of  his  garrison,  waited  in  suspense  for  the 
issue. 

It  was  near  one  o’clock  when  Braddock  crossed 
the  Monongahela  for  the  second  time.  If  the  French 
made  a  stand  anywhere,  it  would  be,  he  thought,  at 
the  for  ding-place ;  but  Lieutenant-Colonel  Gage, 
whom  he  sent  across  with  a  strong  advance-party, 
found  no  enemy,  and  quietly  took  possession  of  the 
farther  shore.  Then  the  main  body  followed.  To 
impose  on  the  imagination  of  the  French  scouts,  who 
were  doubtless  on  the  watch,  the  movement  was 
made  with  studied  regularity  and  order.  The  sun 
was  cloudless,  and  the  men  were  inspirited  by  the 
prospect  of  near  triumph.  Washington  afterwards 
spoke  with  admiration  of  the  spectacle.1  The 
music,  the  banners,  the  mounted  officers,  the  troop 
of  light  cavalry,  the  naval  detachment,  the  red- 
coated  regulars,  the  blue-coated  Virginians,  the 
wagons  and  tumbrils,  cannon,  howitzers,  and  coe- 
horns,  the  train  of  packhorses,  and  the  droves  of 
cattle,  passed  in  long  procession  through  the  rippling 
shallows,  and  slowly  entered  the  bordering  forest. 
Here,  when  all  were  over,  a  short  halt  was  ordered 
for  rest  and  refreshment. 

Why  had  not  Beaujeu  defended  the  ford?  This 
was  his  intention  in  the  morning;  but  he  had  been 
met  by  obstacles,  the  nature  of  which  is  not  wholly 
clear.  His  Indians,  it  seems,  had  proved  refractory. 

1  Compare  the  account  of  another  eye-witness,  Dr.  Walker,  in 
Hazard’s  Pennsylvania  Register ,  vi.  104. 


t 


A  Sketch  of  the  Field  of  Battle  of  the  9TH  of  July,  upon  the  Monongahela,  seven  miles  from 
Fort  du  Quesne,  shewing  the  Disposition  of  the  Troops  when  the  Action  began. 


1 


1755.] 


THE  CRISIS  NEAR. 


221 


Three  hundred  of  them  left  him,  went  off  in  another 
direction,  and  did  not  rejoin  him  till  the  English  had 
crossed  the  river.1  Hence  perhaps  it  was  that,  hav¬ 
ing  left  Fort  Duquesne  at  eight  o’clock,  he  spent 
half  the  day  in  marching  seven  miles,  and  was  more 
than  a  mile  from  the  fording-place  when  the  British 
reached  the  eastern  shore.  The  delay,  from  what¬ 
ever  cause  arising,  cost  him  the  opportunity  of  laying 
an  ambush  either  at  the  ford  or  in  the  gullies  and 
ravines  that  channelled  the  forest  through  which 
Braddock  was  now  on  the  point  of  marching. 

Not  far  from  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  close  by 
the  British  line  of  march,  there  was  a  clearing  and 
a  deserted  house  that  had  once  belonged  to  the  trader 
Fraser.  Washington  remembered  it  well.  It  was 
here  that  he  found  rest  and  shelter  on  the  winter 
journey  homeward  from  his  mission  to  Fort  Le  Boeuf. 
He  was  in  no  less  need  of  rest  at  this  moment;  for 
recent  fever  had  so  weakened  him  that  he  could 
hardly  sit  his  horse.  From  Fraser’s  house  to  Fort 
Duquesne  the  distance  was  eight  miles  by  a  rough 
path,  along  which  the  troops  were  now  beginning  to 
move  after  their  halt.  It  ran  inland  for  a  little, 
then  curved  to  the  left,  and  followed  a  course  paral¬ 
lel  to  the  river  along  the  base  of  a  line  of  steep  hills 
that  here  bordered  the  valley.  These  and  all  the 
country  were  buried  in  dense  and  heavy  forest, 
choked  with  bushes  and  the  carcasses  of  fallen  trees. 
Braddock  has  been  charged  with  marching  blindly 

1  Relation  de  Godefroy ,  in  Shea,  Bataille  du  MalangueuU. 


222 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


into  an  ambuscade;  but  it  was  not  so.  There  was 
no  ambuscade;  and  had  there  been  one,  he  would 
have  found  it.  It  is  true  that  he  did  not  reconnoitre 
the  woods  very  far  in  advance  of  the  head  of  the 
column;  yet,  with  this  exception,  he  made  elaborate 
dispositions  to  prevent  surprise.  Several  guides, 
with  six  Virginian  light  horsemen,  led  the  way. 
Then,  a  musket-shot  behind,  came  the  vanguard; 
then  three  hundred  soldiers  under  Gage;  then  a 
large  body  of  axemen,  under  Sir  J ohn  Sinclair,  to 
open  the  road;  then  two  cannon  with  tumbrils  and 
tool- wagons;  and  lastly  the  rear-guard,  closing  the 
line,  while  flanking-parties  ranged  the  woods  on  both 
sides.  This  was  the  advance-column.  The  main 
body  followed  with  little  or  no  interval.  The  artil¬ 
lery  and  wagons  moved  along  the  road,  and  the 
troops  filed  through  the  woods  close  on  either  hand. 
Numerous  flanking-parties  were  thrown  out  a  hun¬ 
dred  yards  and  more  to  right  and  left;  while,  in  the 
space  between  them  and  the  marching  column,  the 
pack-horses  and  cattle,  with  their  drivers,  made 
their  way  painfully  among  the  trees  and  thickets; 
since,  had  they  been  allowed  to  follow  the  road,  the 
line  of  march  would  have  been  too  long  for  mutual 
support.  A  body  of  regulars  and  provincials  brought 
up  the  rear. 

Gage,  with  his  advance  column,  had  just  passed  a 
wide  and  bushy  ravine  that  crossed  their  path,  and 
the  van  of  the  main  column  was  on  the  point  of 
entering  it,  when  the  guides  and  light  horsemen  in 


1755.] 


THE  BATTLE. 


223 


the  front  suddenly  fell  back;  and  the  engineer, 
Gordon,  then  engaged  in  marking  out  the  road,  saw 
a  man,  dressed  like  an  Indian,  but  wearing  the 
gorget  of  an  officer,  bounding  forward  along  the 
path.1  He  stopped  when  he  discovered  the  head  of 
the  column,  turned,  and  waved  his  hat.  The  forest 
behind  was  swarming  with  French  and  savages.  At 
the  signal  of  the  officer,  who  was  probably  Beaujeu, 
they  yelled  the  war-whoop,  spread  themselves  to 
right  and  left,  and  opened  a  sharp  fire  under  cover 
of  the  trees.  Gage’s  column  wheeled  deliberately 
into  line,  and  fired  several  volleys  with  great  steadi¬ 
ness  against  the  now  invisible  assailants.  Few  of 
them  were  hurt;  the  trees  caught  the  shot,  but  the 
noise  was  deafening  under  the  dense  arches  of  the 
forest.  The  greater  part  of  the  Canadians,  to  borrow 
the  words  of  Dumas,  “  fled  shamefully,  crying, 
‘  Sauve  qui  peut!  ’  ”  2  Volley  followed  volley,  and  at 
the  third  Beaujeu  dropped  dead.  Gage’s  two  cannon 
were  now  brought  to  bear,  on  which  the  Indians,  like 
the  Canadians,  gave  way  in  confusion,  but  did  not, 
like  them,  abandon  the  field.  The  close  scarlet 
ranks  of  the  English  were  plainly  to  be  seen  through 
the  trees  and  the  smoke ;  they  were  moving  forward, 
cheering  lustily,  and  shouting,  “  God  save  the  King!  ” 
Dumas,  now  chief  in  command,  thought  that  all  was 
lost.  “I  advanced,”  he  says,  “with  the  assurance 

1  Journal  of  the  Proceeding  of  the  Detachment  of  Seamen,  in  Sargent. 

2  Dumas  au  Ministre,  24  Juillet,  1756.  Contrecoeur  a  Vaudreull,  14 
Juillet,  1755.  See  Appendix  D,  where  extracts  are  given. 


224 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


that  comes  from  despair,  exciting  by  voice  and 
gesture  the  few  soldiers  that  remained.  The  fire  of 
my  platoon  was  so  sharp  that  the  enemy  seemed 
astonished.”  The  Indians,  encouraged,  began  to 
rally.  The  French  officers  who  commanded  them 
showed  admirable  courage  and  address;  and  while 
Dumas  and  Ligneris,  with  the  regulars  and  what 
was  left  of  the  Canadians,  held  the  ground  in  front, 
the  savage  warriors,  screeching  their  war-cries, 
swarmed  through  the  forest  along  both  flanks  of  the 
English,  hid  behind  trees,  bushes,  and  fallen  trunks, 
or  crouched  in  gullies  and  ravines,  and  opened  a 
deadly  fire  on  the  helpless  soldiery,  who,  themselves 
completely  visible,  could  see  no  enemy,  and  wasted 
volley  after  volley  on  the  impassive  trees.  The  most 
destructive  fire  came  from  a  hill  on  the  English  right, 
where  the  Indians  lay  in  multitudes,  firing  from 
their  lurking-places  on  the  living  target  below.  But 
the  invisible  death  was  everywhere,  in  front,  flank, 
and  rear.  The  British  cheer  was  heard  no  more. 
The  troops  broke  their  ranks  and  huddled  together  in 
a  bewildered  mass,  shrinking  from  the  bullets  that 
cut  them  down  by  scores. 

When  Braddock  heard  the  firing  in  the  front,  he 
pushed  forward  with  the  main  body  to  the  support  of 
Gage,  leaving  four  hundred  men  in  the  rear,  under 
Sir  Peter  Halket,  to  guard  the  baggage.  At  the 
moment  of  his  arrival  Gage’s  soldiers  had  abandoned 
their  two  cannon,  and  were  falling  back  to  escape 
the  concentrated  fire  of  the  Indians.  Meeting  the 


li  o'!  .  1  ■ 


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1755.] 


GALLANTRY  OF  VIRGINIANS. 


225 


advancing  troops,  they  tried  to  find  cover  behind 
them.  This  threw  the  whole  into  confusion.  The 
men  of  the  two  regiments  became  mixed  together; 
and  in  a  short  time  the  entire  force,  except  the 
Virginians  and  the  troops  left  with  Halket,  were 
massed  in  several  dense  bodies  within  a  small  space 
of  ground,  facing  some  one  way  and  some  another, 
and  all  alike  exposed  without  shelter  to  the  bullets 
that  pelted  them  like  hail.  Both  men  and  officers 
were  new  to  this  blind  and  frightful  warfare  of  the 
savage  in  his  native  woods.  To  charge  the  Indians 
in  their  hiding-places  would  have  been  useless.  They 
would  have  eluded  pursuit  with  the  agility  of  wild¬ 
cats,  and  swarmed  back,  like  angry  hornets,  the 
moment  that  it  ceased.  The  Virginians  alone  were 
equal  to  the  emergency.  Fighting  behind  trees  like 
the  Indians  themselves,  they  might  have  held  the 
enemy  in  check  till  order  could  be  restored,  had  not 
Braddock,  furious  at  a  proceeding  that  shocked  all 
his  ideas  of  courage  and  discipline,  ordered  them, 
with  oaths,  to  form  into  line.  A  body  of  them 
under  Captain  Waggoner  made  a  dash  for  a  fallen 
tree  lying  in  the  woods,  far  out  towards  the  lurking- 
places  of  the  Indians,  and,  crouching  behind  the 
huge  trunk,  opened  fire ;  but  the  regulars,  seeing  the 
smoke  among  the  bushes,  mistook  their  best  friends 
for  the  enemy,  shot  at  them  from  behind,  killed 
many,  and  forced  the  rest  to  return.  A  few  of  the 
regulars  also  tried  in  their  clumsy  way  to  fight 
behind  trees;  but  Braddock  beat  them  with  his 

VOL.  I.  —  15 


1 


226 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


sword,  and  compelled  them  to  stand  with  the  rest, 
an  open  mark  for  the  Indians.  The  panic  increased ; 
the  soldiers  crowded  together,  and  the  bullets  spent 
themselves  in  a  mass  of  human  bodies.  Commands, 
entreaties,  and  threats  were  lost  upon  them.  “We 
would  fight,”  some  of  them  answered,  “if  we  could 
see  anybody  to  fight  with.”  Nothing  was  visible 
but  puffs  of  smoke.  Officers  and  men  who  had  stood 
all  the  afternoon  under  fire  afterwards  declared  that 
they  could  not  be  sure  they  had  seen  a  single  Indian. 
Braddock  ordered  Lieutenant-Colonel  Burton  to 
attack  the  hill  where  the  puffs  of  smoke  were 
thickest,  and  the  bullets  most  deadly.  With  infinite 
difficulty  that  brave  officer  induced  a  hundred  men  to 
follow  him  \  but  he  was  soon  disabled  by  a  wound, 
and  they  all  faced  about.  The  artillerymen  stood 
for  some  time  by  their  guns,  which  did  great  damage 
to  the  trees  and  little  to  the  enemy.  The  mob  of 
soldiers,  stupefied  with  terror,  stood  panting,  their 
foreheads  headed  with  sweat,  loading  and  firing 
mechanically,  sometimes  into  the  air,  sometimes 
among  their  own  comrades,  many  of  whom  they 
killed.  The  ground,  strewn  with  dead  and  wounded 
men,  the  bounding  of  maddened  horses,  the  clatter 
and  roar  of  musketry  and  cannon,  mixed  with  the 
spiteful  report  of  rifles  and  the  yells  that  rose  from 
the  indefatigable  throats  of  six  hundred  unseen 
savages,  formed  a  chaos  of  anguish  and  terror 
scarcely  paralleled  even  in  Indian  war.  “  I  cannot 
describe  the  horrors  of  that  scene,”  one  of  Braddock’s 


HAVOC  AMONG  OFFICERS. 


227 


*» 

-  — *u  •  -•+ 


1755.] 


officers  wrote  three  weeks  after;  uno  pen  could  do 
it.  The  yell  of  the  Indians  is  fresh  on  my  ear,  and 
the  terrific  sound  will  haunt  me  till  the  hour  of  my 
dissolution.” 1 

Braddock  showed  a  furious  intrepidity.  Mounted 
on  horseback,  he  dashed  to  and  fro,  storming  like  a 
madman.  Four  horses  were  shot  under  him,  and  he 
mounted  a  fifth.  Washington  seconded  his  chief 
with  equal  courage;  he  too  no  doubt  using  strong 
language,  for  he  did  not  measure  words  when  the 
fit  was  on  him.  He  escaped  as  by  miracle.  Two 
horses  were  killed  under  him,  and  four  bullets  tore 
his  clothes.  The  conduct  of  the  British  officers  was 
above  praise.  Nothing  could  surpass  their  undaunted 
self-devotion ;  and  in  their  vain  attempts  to  lead  on 
the  men,  the  havoc  among  them  was  frightful.  Sir 
Peter  Halket  was  shot  dead.  His  son,  a  lieutenant 
in  his  regiment,  stooping  to  raise  the  body  of  his 
father,  was  shot  dead  in  turn.  Young  Shirley, 
Braddock’s  secretary,  was  pierced  through  the  brain. 
Orme  and  Morris,  his  aides-de-camp,  Sinclair,  the 
quartermaster-general,  Gates  and  Gage,  both  after¬ 
wards  conspicuous  on  opposite  sides  in  the  War  of 
the  Revolution,  and  Gladwin,  who,  eight  years  later, 
defended  Detroit  against  Pontiac,  were  all  wounded. 
Of  eighty-six  officers,  sixty-three  were  killed  or  dis¬ 
abled;2  while  out  of  thirteen  hundred  and  seventy- 

1  Leslie  to  a  Merchant  of  Philadelphia,*#}  July,  1755,  in  Hazard's 
Pennsylvania  Register,  v.  191.  Leslie  was  a  lieutenant  of  the  Forty- 

fourth. 

2  A  List  of  the  Officers  who  were  present,  and  of  those  killed  and 


228 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


three  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates,  only 
four  hundred  and  fifty-nine  came  off  unharmed.1 

Braddock  saw  that  all  was  lost.  To  save  the  wreck 
of  his  force  from  annihilation,  he  at  last  commanded 
a  retreat;  and  as  he  and  such  of  his  officers  as  were 
left  strove  to  withdraw  the  half-frenzied  crew  in 
some  semblance  of  order,  a  bullet  struck  him  down. 
The  gallant  bulldog  fell  from  his  horse,  shot  through 
the  arm  into  the  lungs.  It  is  said,  though  on  evi¬ 
dence  of  no  weight,  that  the  bullet  came  from  one 
of  his  own  men.  Be  this  as  it  may,  there  he  lay 
among  the  bushes,  bleeding,  gasping,  unable  even 
to  curse.  He  demanded  to  be  left  where  he  was. 
Captain  Stewart  and  another  provincial  bore  him 
between  them  to  the  rear. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  mob  of  soldiers, 
having  been  three  hours  under  fire,  and  having  spent 
their  ammunition,  broke  away  in  a  blind  frenzy, 
rushed  back  towards  the  ford,  “and  when,”  says 
Washington,  “we  endeavored  to  rally  them,  it  was 
with  as  much  success  as  if  we  had  attempted  to  stop 
the  wild  bears  of  the  mountains.”  They  dashed 
across,  helter-skelter,  plunging  through  the  water  to 
the  farther  bank,  leaving  wounded  comrades,  cannon, 

wounded,  in  the  Action  on  the  BanJcs  of  the  Monongahela,  9  July,  1755 
(Public  Record  Office,  America  and  West  Indies,  lxxxii). 

1  Statement  of  the  engineer,  Mackellar.  By  another  account, 
out  of  a  total,  officers  and  men,  of  1,460,  the  number  of  all  ranks 
who  escaped  was  583.  Braddock’s  force,  originally  1,200,  was  in¬ 
creased,  a  few  days  before  the  battle,  by  detachments  from 
Dunbar. 


1755.] 


BATTLE-FIELD  ABANDONED. 


229 


baggage,  the  military  chest,  and  the  general’s  papers, 
a  prey  to  the  Indians.  About  fifty  of  these  followed 
to  the  edge  of  the  river.  Dumas  and  Ligneris,  who 
had  now  only  about  twenty  Frenchmen  with  them, 
made  no  attempt  to  pursue,  and  went  back  to  the 
fort,  because,  says  Contrecoeur,  so  many  of  the 
Canadians  had  “ retired  at  the  first  fire.”  The  field, 
abandoned  to  the  savages,  was  a  pandemonium  of 
pillage  and  murder.1 

James  Smith,  the  young  prisoner  at  Fort  Duquesne, 

1  “  Nous  primes  le  parti  de  nous  retirer  en  vue  de  rallier  notre 
petite  armee.” —  Dumas  au  Ministre,  24  Juillet,  1756. 

On  the  defeat  of  Braddock,  besides  authorities  already  cited,  — 
Shirley  to  Robinson,  5  November,  1755,  accompanying  the  plans  of 
the  battle  reproduced  in  this  volume  (Public  Record  Office,  America 
and  West  Indies,  lxxxii.).  The  plans  were  drawn  at  Shirley’s  request 
by  Patrick  Mackellar,  chief  engineer  of  the  expedition,  who  was 
with  Gage  in  the  advance  column  when  the  fight  began.  They  were 
examined  and  fully  approved  by  the  chief  surviving  officers,  and 
they  closely  correspond  with  another  plan  made  by  the  aide-de- 
camp  Orme,  —  which,  however,  shows  only  the  beginning  of  the 
affair. 

Report  of  the  Court  of  Inquiry  into  the  Behavior  of  the  Troops  at  the 
Monongahela.  Letters  of  Dinwiddie.  Letters  of  Gage.  Burd  to  Mor¬ 
ris,  25  July,  1755.  Sinclair  to  Robinson,  3  September.  Rutherford  to 
- ,  12  July.  Writings  of  Washington,  ii.  68-93.  Review  of  Mili¬ 
tary  Operations  in  North  America.  Entick,  i.  145.  Gentleman’s 
Magazine  (1755),  378,  426.  Letter  to  a  Friend  on  the  Ohio  Defeat 
(Boston,  1755). 

Contrecoeur  a  Vaudreuil,  14  Juillet,  1755.  Estat  de  V Artillerie,  etc., 
qui  se  sont  trouves  sur  la  Champ  de  Bataille.  Vaudreuil  au  Ministre, 
5  Aout,  1755.  Bigot  au  Ministre,  27  Aout.  Relation  du  Combat  du 
9  Juillet.  Relation  depuis  le  Depart  des  Trouppes  de  Quebec  jusqu’au 
30  du  Mois  de  Septembre.  Lotbiniere  a  d’Argenson,  24  Octobre.  Rela¬ 
tion  officielle  imprimee  au  Louvre.  Relation  de  Godefroy  (Shea).  Ex¬ 
traits  du  Registre  du  Fort  Duquesne  (Ibid.).  Relation  de  diverses 
Mouvements  (Ibid.).  Pouchot,  i.  37. 


230  BRADDOCK.  [1755. 

had  passed  a  day  of  suspense,  waiting  the  result. 

“  In  the  afternoon  I  again  observed  a  great  noise  and 
commotion  in  the  fort,  and,  though  at  that  time  I 
could  not  understand  French,  I  found  it  was  the 
voice  of  joy  and  triumph,  and  feared  that  they  had 
received  what  I  called  bad  news.  I  had  observed 
some  of  the  old-country  soldiers  speak  Dutch;  as  I 
spoke  Dutch,  I  went  to0  one  of  them  and  asked  him 
what  was  the  news.  He  told  me  that  a  runner  had 
just  arrived  who  said  that  Braddock  would  certainly 
be  defeated;  that  the  Indians  and  French  had  sur¬ 
rounded  him,  and  were  concealed  behind  trees  and 
in  gullies,  and  kept  a  constant  fire  upon  the  English; 
and  that  they  saw  the  English  falling  in  heaps ;  and 
if  they  did  not  take  the  river,  which  was  the  only 
gap,  and  make  their  escape,  there  would  not  be  one 
man  left  alive  before  sundown.  Some  time  after 
this,  I  heard  a  number  of  scalp-halloos,  and  saw  a 
company  of  Indians  and  French  coming  Hm*  I  ob¬ 
served  they  had  a  great  number  of  bloody  scalps, 
grenadiers’  caps,  British  canteens,  bayonets,  etc., 
with  them.  They  brought  the  news  that  Braddock 
was  defeated.  After  that  another  company  came  in, 
which  appeared  to  be  about  one  hundred,  and  chiefly 
Indians ;  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  almost  every  one 
of  this  company  was  carrying  scalps.  After  this 
came  another  company  with  a  number  of  wagon- 
horses,  and  also  a  great  many  scalps.  Those  that 
were  coming  in  and  those  that  had  arrived  kept  a 
constant  firing  of  small  arms,  and  also  the  great 


1755.] 


AFTER  THE  BATTLE. 


231 


guns  in  the  fort,  which  were  accompanied  with  the 
most  hideous  shouts  and  yells  from  all  quarters,  so 
that  it  appeared  to  me  as  though  the  infernal  regions 
had  broke  loose. 

“  About  sundown  I  beheld  a  small  party  coming  in 
with  about  a  dozen  prisoners,  stripped  naked,  with 
their  hands  tied  behind  their  backs  and  their  faces 
and  part  of  their  bodies  blacked ;  these  prisoners  they 
burned  to  death  on  the  bank  of  Alleghany  River, 
opposite  the  fort.  I  stood  on  the  fort  wall  until  I 
beheld  them  begin  to  burn  one  of  these  men;  they 
.  had  him  tied  to  a  stake,  and  kept  touching  him  with 
firebrands,  red-hot  irons,  etc.,  and  he  screaming  in  a 
most  doleful  manner,  the  Indians  in  the  meantime 
yelling  like  infernal  spirits.  As  this  scene  appeared 
too  shocking  for  me  to  behold,  I  retired  to  my  lodg¬ 
ing,  both  sore  and  sorry.  When  I  came  into  my 
lodgings  I  saw  Russel’s  Seven  Sermons,  which  they 
had  brought  from  the  field  of  battle,  which  a  French¬ 
man  made  a  present  of  to  me.” 

The  loss  of  the  French  was  slight,  but  fell  chiefly 
on  the  officers,  three  of  whom  were  killed,  and  four 
wounded.  Of  the  regular  soldiers,  all  but  four 
escaped  untouched.  The  Canadians  suffered  still 
less,  in  proportion  to  their  numbers,  only  five  of 
them  being  hurt.  The  Indians,  who  won  the  victory, 
bore  the  principal  loss.  Of  those  from  Canada, 
twenty-seven  were  killed  and  wounded;  while  the 
casualties  among  the  western  tribes  are  not  reported.1 

1  Liste  des  Officiers,  Soldats,  Miliciens,  et  Sauvages  de  Canada  qui 
ont  €le  tuds  et  blesses  le  9  Juillet,  1755. 


232 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


All  of  these  last  went  off  the  next  morning  with 
their  plunder  and  scalps,  leaving  Contrecceur  in  great 
anxiety  lest  the  remnant  of  Braddock’s  troops,  rein¬ 
forced  by  the  division  under  Dunbar,  should  attack 
him  again.  His  doubts  would  have  vanished  had  he 
known  the  condition  of  his  defeated  enemy. 

In  the  pain  and  languor  of  a  mortal  wound,  Brad- 
dock  showed  unflinching  resolution.  His  bearers 
stopped  with  him  at  a  favorable  spot  beyond  the 
Monongahela;  and  here  he  hoped  to  maintain  his 
position  till  the  arrival  of  Dunbar.  By  the  efforts 
of  the  officers  about  a  hundred  men  were  collected 
around  him ;  but  to  keep  them  there  was  impossible. 
Within  an  hour  they  abandoned  him,  and  fled  like 
the  rest.  Gage,  however,  succeeded  in  rallying 
about  eighty  beyond  the  other  f ording-place ;  and 
Washington,  on  an  order  from  Braddock,  spurred  his 
jaded  horse  towards  the  camp  of  Dunbar  to  demand 
wagons,  provisions,  and  hospital  stores. 

Fright  overcame  fatigue.  The  fugitives  toiled  on 
all  night,  pursued  by  spectres  of  horror  and  despair ; 
hearing  still  the  war-whoops  and  the  shrieks;  pos¬ 
sessed  with  the  one  thought  of  escape  from  this 
wilderness  of  death.  In  the  morning  some  order 
was  restored.  Braddock  was  placed  on  a  horse ; 
then,  the  pain  being  insufferable,  he  was  carried  on 
a  litter,  Captain  Orme  having  bribed  the  carriers  by 
the  promise  of  a  guinea  and  a  bottle  of  rum  apiece. 
Early  in  the  succeeding  night,  such  as  had  not  fainted 
on  the  way  reached  the  deserted  farm  of  Gist.  Here 


1755.] 


PANIC. 


2i  3 


they  met  wagons  and  provisions,  with  a  detachment 
of  soldiers  sent  by  Dunbar,  whose  camp  was  six 
miles  farther  on ;  and  Braddock  ordered  them  to  go 
to  the  relief  of  the  stragglers  left  behind. 

At  noon  of  that  day  a  number  of  wagoners  and 
pack-horse  drivers  had  come  to  Dunbar’s  camp  with 
wild  tidings  of  rout  and  ruin.  More  fugitives  fol¬ 
lowed  ;  and  soon  after  a  wounded  officer  was  brought 
in  upon  a  sheet.  The  drums  beat  to  arms.  The 
camp  was  in  commotion;  and  many  soldiers  and 
teamsters  took  to  flight,  in  spite  of  the  sentinels, 
who  tried  in  vain  to  stop  them.1  There  was  a  still 
more  disgraceful  scene  on  the  next  day,  after  Brad- 
dock,  with  the  wreck  of  his  force,  had  arrived. 
Orders  were  given  to  destroy  such  of  the  wagons, 
stores,  and  ammunition  as  could  not  be  carried  back 
at  once  to  Fort  Cumberland.  Whether  Dunbar  or 
the  dying  general  gave  these  orders  is  not  clear ;  but 
it  is  certain  that  they  were  executed  with  shameful 
alacrity.  More  than  a  hundred  wagons  were  burned ; 
cannon,  coehorns,  and  shells  were  burst  or  buried; 
barrels  of  gunpowder  were  staved,  and  the  contents 
thrown  into  a  brook;  provisions  were  scattered 
through  the  woods  and  swamps.  Then  the  whole 
command  began  its  retreat  over  the  mountains  to 
Fort  Cumberland,  sixty  miles  distant.  This  pro¬ 
ceeding,  for  which,  in  view  of  the  condition  of 
Braddock,  Dunbar  must  be  held  answerable,  excited 

1  Depositions  of  Matthew  Laird,  Michael  Hoover ,  and  Jacob  Hoover, 
Wagoners,  in  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  vi.  482. 


/ 


/  > 

234  BRADDOCK.  [1755. 

the  utmost  indignation  among  the  colonists.  If  he 
could  not  advance,  they  thought,  he  might  at  least 
have  fortified  himself  and  held  his  ground  till  the 
provinces  could  send  him  help;  thus  covering  the 
frontier,  and  holding  French  war-parties  in  check. 

Braddock’s  last  moment  was  near.  Orme,  who, 
though  himself  severely  wounded,  was  with  him  till 
his  death,  told  Franklin  that  he  was  totally  silent  all 
the  first  day,  and  at  night  said  only,  “Who  would 
have  thought  it?”  that  all  the  next  day  he  was  again 
silent,  till  at  last  he  muttered,  “We  shall  better 
know  how  to  deal  with  them  another  time,”  and  died 
a  few  minutes  after.  He  had  nevertheless  found 
breath  to  give  orders  at  Gist’s  for  the  succor  of  the 
men  who  had  dropped  on  the  road.  It  is  said,  too, 
that  in  his  last  hours  “  he  could  not  bear  the  sight  of 
a  red  coat,”  but  murmured  praises  of  “the  blues,” 
or  Virginians,  and  said  that  he  hoped  he  should  live 
to  reward  them.1  He  died  at  about  eight  o’clock  in 
the  evening  of  Sunday,  the  thirteenth.  Dunbar  had 
begun  his  retreat  that  morning,  and  was  then  en¬ 
camped  near  the  Great  Meadows.  On  Monday  the 
dead  commander  was  buried  in  the  road ;  and  men, 
horses,  and  wagons  passed  over  his  grave,  effacing 
every  sign  of  it,  lest  the  Indians  should  find  and 
mutilate  the  body. 

Colonel  James  Innes,  commanding  at  Fort  Cum¬ 
berland,  where  a  crowd  of  invalids  with  soldiers’ 

i  Bolling  to  his  Son,  13  August,  1755.  Bolling  was  a  Virginian 
gentleman  whose  son  was  at  school  in  England. 


Hi 


235 


1755.]  NEWS  OF  THE  ROUT. 

wives  and  other  women  had  been  left  when  the 
expedition  marched,  heard  of  the  defeat,  only  two 
days  after  it  happened,  from  a  wagoner  who  had  fled 
from  the  field  on  horseback.  He  at  once  sent  a  note 
of  six  lines  to  Lord  Fairfax:  “I  have  this  moment 
received  the  most  melancholy  news  of  the  defeat  of 
our  troops,  the  General  killed,  and  numbers  of  our 
officers ;  our  whole  artillery  taken.  In  short,  the  ac¬ 
count  I  have  received  is  so  very  bad,  that  as,  please 
God,  I  intend  to  make  a  stand  here,  ’tis  highly 
necessary  to  raise  the  militia  everywhere  to  defend 
the  frontiers.”  A  boy  whom  he  sent  out  on  horse¬ 
back  met  more  fugitives,  and  came  back  on  the  four¬ 
teenth  with  reports  as  vague  and  disheartening  as 
the  first.  Innes  sent  them  to  Dinwiddie.1  Some 
days  after,  Dunbar  and  his  train  arrived  in  miserable 
disorder,  and  Fort  Cumberland  was  turned  into  a 
hospital  for  the  shattered  fragments  of  a  routed  and 
ruined  army. 

On  the  sixteenth  a  letter  was  brought  in  haste  to 
one  Buchanan  at  Carlisle,  on  the  Pennsylvanian 
frontier :  — 

Sir,  —  I  thought  it  proper  to  let  you  know  that  I  was 
in  the  battle  where  we  were  defeated.  And  we  had  about 
eleven  hundred  and  fifty  private  men,  besides  officers  and 
others.  And  we  were  attacked  the  ninth  day  about  twelve 
o’clock,  and  held  till  about  three  in  the  afternoon,  and 
then  we  were  forced  to  retreat,  when  I  suppose  we  might 
bring  off  about  three  hundred  whole  men,  besides  a  vast 


J 


1  Innes  to  Dinwiddie ,  14  July,  1755. 


236 


BRADDOCK. 


ri755. 


many  wounded.  Most  of  our  officers  were  either  wounded 
or  killed;  General  Braddock  is  wounded,  but  I  hope  not 
mortal  ;  and  Sir  John  Sinclair  and  many  others,  hut  I 
hope  not  mortal.  All  the  train  is  cut  off  in  a  manner. 
Sir  Peter  Halket  and  his  son,  Captain  Poison,  Captain 
Gethen,  Captain  Rose,  Captain  Tatten  killed,  and  many 
others.  Captain  Ord  of  the  train  is  wounded,  but  I  hope 
not  mortal.  We  lost  all  our  artillery  entirely,  and  every¬ 
thing  else. 

To  Mr.  John  Smith  and  Buchannon,  and  give  it  to  the 
next  post,  and  let  him  show  this  to  Mr.  George  Gibson  in 
Lancaster,  and  Mr.  Bingham,  at  the  sign  of  the  Ship,  and 
you  ’ll  oblige, 

Yours  to  command, 

John  Campbell,  Messenger.1 

The  evil  tidings  quickly  reached  Philadelphia, 
where  such  confidence  had  prevailed  that  certain 
over-zealous  persons  had  begun  to  collect  money  for 
fireworks  to  celebrate  the  victory.  Two  of  these, 
brother  physicians  named  Bond,  came  to  Franklin 
and  asked  him  to  subscribe;  but  the  sage  looked 
doubtful.  “ Why,  the  devil!”  said  one  of  them, 
“you  surely  don’t  suppose  the  fort  will  not  be 
taken?”  He  reminded  them  that  war  is  always 
uncertain ;  and  the  subscription  was  deferred.2  The 
governor  laid  the  news  of  the  disaster  before  his 
Council,  telling  them  at  the  same  time  that  his  oppo¬ 
nents  in  the  Assembly  would  not  believe  it,  and  had 
insulted  him  in  the  street  for  giving  it  currency.3 

1  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  vi.  481. 

2  Autobiography  of  Franklin. 

8  Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  vi.  480. 


1755.] 


OKME  AND  WASHINGTON. 


237 


Dinwiddie  remained  tranquil  at  Williamsburg, 
sure  that  all  would  go  well.  The  brief  note  of 
Innes,  forwarded  by  Lord  Fairfax,  first  disturbed  his 
dream  of  triumph;  but  on  second  thought  he  took 
comfort.  “  I  am  willing  to  think  that  account  was 
from  a  deserter  who,  in  a  great  panic,  represented 
what  his  fears  suggested.  I  wait  with  impatience 
for  another  express  from  Fort  Cumberland,  which  I 
expect  will  greatly  contradict  the  former.”  The 
news  got  abroad,  and  the  slaves  showed  signs  of 
excitement.  “The  villany  of  the  negroes  on  any 
emergency  is  what  I  always  feared,”  continues  the 
governor.  “  An  example  of  one  or  two  at  first  may 
prevent  these  creatures  entering  into  combinations 
and  wicked  designs.”1  And  he  wrote  to  Lord  Hali¬ 
fax:  “The  negro  slaves  have  been  very  audacious 
on  the  news  of  defeat  on  the  Ohio.  These  poor 
creatures  imagine  the  French  will  give  them  their 
freedom.  We  have  too  many  here;  but  I  hope  we 
shall  be  able  to  keep  them  in  proper  subjection.” 
Suspense  grew  intolerable.  “  It ’s  monstrous  they 
should  be  so  tardy  and  dilatory  in  sending  down  any 
farther  account.”  He  sent  Major  Colin  Campbell 
for  news ;  when,  a  day  or  two  later,  a  courier  brought 
him  two  letters,  one  from  Orme,  and  the  other  from 
Washington,  both  written  at  Fort  Cumberland  on  the 
eighteenth.  The  letter  of  Orme  began  thus:  “My 
dear  Governor,  I  am  so  extremely  ill  in  bed  with  the 
wound  I  have  received  that  I  am  under  the  necessity 

1  Dinwiddie  to  Colonel  Charles  Carter,  18  July,  1755. 


238 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


of  employing  my  friend  Captain  Dobson  as  my 
scribe.”  Then  he  told  the  wretched  story  of  defeat 
and  humiliation.  “  The  officers  were  absolutely  sac¬ 
rificed  by  their  unparalleled  good  behavior;  advancing 
before  their  men  sometimes  in  bodies,  and  sometimes 
separately,  hoping  by  such  an  example  to  engage  the 
soldiers  to  follow  them;  but  to  no  purpose.  Poor 
Shirley  was  shot  through  the  head,  Captain  Morris 
very  much  wounded.  Mr.  Washington  had  two 
horses  shot  under  him,  and  his  clothes  shot  through 
in  several  places ;  behaving  the  whole  time  with  the 
greatest  courage  and  resolution.” 

Washington  wrote  more  briefly,  saying  that,  as 
Orme  was  giving  a  full  account  of  the  affair,  it  was 
needless  for  him  to  repeat  it.  Like  many  others  in 
the  fight,  he  greatly  underrated  the  force  of  the 
enemy,  which  he  placed  at  three  hundred,  or  about  a 
third  of  the  actual  number,  —  a  natural  error,  as  most 
of  the  assailants  were  invisible.  “  Our  poor  Virginians 
behaved  like  men,  and  died  like  soldiers;  for  I 
believe  that  out  of  three  companies  that  were  there 
that  day,  scarce  thirty  were  left  alive.  Captain 
Peronney  and  all  his  officers  down  to  a  corporal  were 
killed.  Captain  Poison  shared  almost  as  hard  a  fate, 
for  only  one  of  his  escaped.  In  short,  the  das¬ 
tardly  behavior  of  the  English  soldiers  exposed  all 
those  who  were  inclined  to  do  their  duty  to  almost 
certain  death.  It  is  imagined  (I  believe  with  great 
justice,  too)  that  two  thirds  of  both  killed  and 
wounded  received  their  shots  from  our  own  cowardly 


1755.] 


DINWIDDLE’S  REPLIES. 


239 


dogs  of  soldiers,  who  gathered  themselves  into  a 
body,  contrary  to  orders,  ten  and  twelve  deep,  would 
then  level,  fire,  and  shoot  down  the  men  before 
them.” 1 

To  Orme,  Dinwiddie  replied:  “I  read  your  letter 
with  tears  in  my  eyes ;  but  it  gave  me  much  pleasure 
to  see  your  name  at  the  bottom,  and  more  so  when  I 
observed  by  the  postscript  that  your  wound  is  not 
dangerous.  But  pray,  dear  sir,  is  it  not  possible  by 
a  second  attempt  to  retrieve  the  great  loss  we  have 
sustained?  I  presume  the  General’s  chariot  is  at 
the  fort.  In  it  you  may  come  here,  and  my  house  is 
heartily  at  your  command.  Pray  take  care  of  your 
valuable  health;  keep  your  spirits  up,  and  I  doubt 
not  of  your  recovery.  My  wife  and  girls  join  me  in 
most  sincere  respects  and  joy  at  your  being  so  well, 
and  I  always  am,  with  great  truth,  dear  friend,  your 
affectionate  humble  servant.” 

To  Washington  he  is  less  effusive,  though  he  had 
known  him  much  longer.  He  begins,  it  is  true, 
“Dear  Washington,”  and  congratulates  him  on  his 
escape ;  but  soon  grows  formal,  and  asks :  “  Pray,  sir, 
with  the  number  of  them  remaining,  is  there  no 
possibility  of  doing  something  on  the  other  side  of 
the  mountains  before  the  winter  months?  Surely 
you  must  mistake.  Colonel  Dunbar  will  not  march 
to  winter-quarters  in  the  middle  of  summer,  and 
leave  the  frontiers  exposed  to  the  invasions  of  the 

1  These  extracts  are  taken  from  the  two  letters  preserved  in  the 
Public  Record  Office,  America  and  West  Indies,  lxxiv.,  lxxxii. 


240 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


enemy!  No;  he  is  a  better  officer,  and  I  have  a 
different  opinion  of  him.  I  sincerely  wish  yon  health 
and  happiness,  and  am,  with  great  respect,  sir,  your 
obedient,  humble  servant.” 

Washington’s  letter  had  contained  the  astonishing 
announcement  that  Dunbar  meant  to  abandon  the 
frontier  and  march  to  Philadelphia.  Dinwiddie, 
much  disturbed,  at  once  wrote  to  that  officer,  though 
without  betraying  any  knowledge  of  his  intention. 
“Sir,  the  melancholy  account  of  the  defeat  of  our 
forces  gave  me  a  sensible  and  real  concern  ”  —  on 
which  he  enlarges  for  a  while ;  then  suddenly  changes 
style:  “Dear  Colonel,  is  there  no  method  left  to 
retrieve  the  dishonor  done  to  the  British  arms?  As 
you  now  command  all  the  forces  that  remain,  are  you 
not  able,  after  a  proper  refreshment  of  your  men,  to 
make  a  second  attempt?  You  have  four  months  now 
to  come  of  the  best  weather  of  the  year  for  such  an 
expedition.  What  a  fine  field  for  honor  will  Colonel 
Dunbar  have  to  confirm  and  establish  his  character  as 
a  brave  officer.”  Then,  after  suggesting  plans  of 
operation,  and  entering  into  much  detail,  the  fervid 
governor  concludes :  “  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  that 
under  our  great  loss  and  misfortunes  the  command  de¬ 
volves  on  an  officer  of  so  great  military  judgment  and 
established  character.  With  my  sincere  respect  and 
hearty  wishes  for  success  to  all  your  proceedings,  I 
am,  worthy  sir,  your  most  obedient,  humble  servant.” 

Exhortation  and  flattery  were  lost  on  Dunbar. 
Dinwiddie  received  from  him  in  reply  a  short,  dry 


0 


1755.]  CONDUCT  OF  DUNBAR.  241 

note,  dated  on  the  first  of  August,  and  acquainting 
him  that  he  should  march  for  Philadelphia  on  the 
second.  This,  in  fact,  he  did,  leaving  the  fort  to  he 
defended  by  invalids  and  a  few  Virginians.  “I 
acknowledge,”  says  Dinwiddie,  “I  was  not  brought 
up  to  arms ;  but  I  think  common  sense  would  have 
prevailed  not  to  leave  the  frontiers  exposed  after 
having  opened  a  road  over  the  mountains  to  the  Ohio, 
by  which  the  enemy  can  the  more  easily  invade  us. 

.  .  .  Your  great  colonel,”  he  writes  to  Orme,  “is 
gone  to  a  peaceful  colony,  and  left  our  frontiers 
open.  .  .  .  The  whole  conduct  of  Colonel  Dunbar 
appears  to  me  monstrous.  ...  To  march  off  all  the 
regulars,  and  leave  the  fort  and  frontiers  to  be 
defended  by  four  hundred  sick  and  wounded,  and 
the  poor  remains  of  our  provincial  forces,  appears 
to  me  absurd.”1 

He  found  some  comfort  from  the  burgesses,  who 
gave  him  forty  thousand  pounds,  and  would,  he 
thinks,  have  given  a  hundred  thousand  if  another 
attempt  against  Fort  Duquesne  had  been  set  afoot. 
Shirley,  too,  whom  the  death  of  Braddock  had  made 
commander-in-chief,  approved  the  governor  s  plan  of 
renewing  offensive  operations,  and  instructed  Dunbai 
to  that  effect;  ordering  him,  however,  should  they 
prove  impracticable,  to  march  for  Albany  in  aid  of 
the  Niagara  expedition.2  The  order  found  him  safe 

1  Dinwiddie’s  view  of  Dunbar’s  conduct  is  fully  justified  by  the 
letters  of  Shirley,  Governor  Morris,  and  Dunbar  himself. 

2  Orders  for  Colonel  Thomas  Dunbar,  12  August,  1755.  These 

von.  i.  — 16 


242 


BRADDOCK. 


[1755. 


in  Philadelphia.  Here  he  lingered  for  a  while;  then 
marched  to  join  the  northern  army,  moving  at  a  pace 
which  made  it  certain  that  he  could  not  arrive  in 
time  to  be  of  the  least  use. 

Thus  the  frontier  was  left  unguarded;  and  soon, 
as  Dinwiddie  had  foreseen,  there  burst  upon  it  a 
storm  of  blood  and  fire. 


supersede  a  previous  order  of  August  6,  by  which  Shirley  had 
directed  Dunbar  to  march  northward  at  once. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1755. 

REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS. 

State  of  Acadia. —  T^reat^ned  Invasion.  —  Peril  of  the  Eng. 
lish  :  their  Plans.  —  French  Forts  to  be  attacked.  — 
Beausejour  and  its  Occupants.  —  French  Treatment  of  the 
Acadians. — JjpHN  Winslow.  —  Siege  and  Capture  of  Beause¬ 
jour.  —  Attitude  of  Acadians.  —  Influence  of  their  Priests  : 

THEY  REFUSE  THE  OATH  OF  ALLEGIANCE  ;  THEIR  CONDITION 

and  Character. — Pretended  Neutrals.  —  Moderation  of 
English  Authorities.  —  The  Acadians  persist  in  their 
Refusal.  —  Enemies  or  Subjects  ?  —  Choice  of  the  Acadi¬ 
ans. —  The  Consequence. — Their  Removal  Determined. — 
Winslow  at  Grand  Pre.  —  Conference  with  Murray. — 
Summons  to  the  Inhabitants:  their  Seizure;  their 
Embarkation  ;  their  Fate  ;  their  Treatment  in  Canada. 
Misapprehension  concerning  them. 

By  the  plan  which  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  had 
ordained  and  Braddock  had  announced  in  the  Council 
at  Alexandria,  four  blows  were  to  be  struck  at  once 
to  force  back  the  French  boundaries,  lop  off  the 
dependencies  of  Canada,  and  reduce  her  from  a  vast 
territory  to  a  petty  province.  The  first  stroke  had 
failed,  and  had  shattered  the  hand  of  the  striker;  it 
remains  to  see  what  fortune  awaited  the  others. 

It  was  long  since  a  project  of  purging  Acadia  of 
French  influence  had  germinated  in  the  fertile  mind 
of  Shirley.  We  have  seen  in  a  former  chapter  the 


244 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS.  [1755. 


condition  of  that  afflicted  province.  Several  thou¬ 
sands  of  its  inhabitants,  wrought  upon  by  intriguing 
agents  of  the  French  government;  taught  by  their 
priests  that  fidelity  to  King  Louis  was  inseparable 
from  fidelity  to  God,  and  that  to  swear  allegiance  to 
the  British  Crown  was  eternal  perdition ;  threatened 
with  plunder  and  death  at  the  hands  of  the  savages 
whom  the  ferocious  missionary,  Le  Loutre,  held  over 
them  in  terror,  —  had  abandoned,  sometimes  willingly, 
but  oftener  under  constraint,  the  fields  which  they 
and  their  fathers  had  tilled,  and  crossing  the  boundary 
line  of  the  Missaguash,  had  placed  themselves  under 
the  French  flag  planted  on  the  hill  of  Beausdjour.1 
Here,  or  in  the  neighborhood,  many  of  them  had 
remained,  wretched  and  half  starved;  while  others 
had  been  transported  to  Cape  Breton,  Isle  St. 
Jean,  or  the  coasts  of  the  Gulf,  —  not  so  far,  how¬ 
ever,  that  they  could  not  on  occasion  be  used  to  aid 
in  an  invasion  of  British  Acadia.2  Those  of  their 
countrymen  who  still  lived  under  the  British  flag 
were  chiefly  the  inhabitants  of  the  district  of  Mines 
and  of  the  valley  of  the  river  Annapolis,  who,  with 

1  See  ante,  Chapter  IV. 

2  Rameau  ( La  France  aux  Colonies,  i.  63)  estimates  the  total 
emigration  from  1748  to  1755  at  8,600  souls, — which  number  seems 
much  too  large.  This  writer,  though  vehemently  anti-English, 
gives  the  following  passage  from  a  letter  of  a  high  French  official : 
“  que  les  Acadiens  emigres  et  en  grande  misere  comptaient  se  retirer 
a  Quebec  et  demander  des  terres,  mais  il  conviendrait  mieux  qu’ils 
restent  ou  ils  sont,  afin  d'avoir  le  voisinage  de  l’Acadie  bien  peuple 
et  def  riche,  pour  appro  visionner  ITsle  Roy  ale  [Cape  Breton ]  et 
tomber  en  cas  de  guerre  vur  l’Acadie  ”  Rameau,  i.  133. 


1755.]  POSITION  OF  THE  ACADIANS. 


245 


other  less  important  settlements,  numbered  a  little 
more  than  nine  thousand  souls.  We  have  shown 
already,  by  the  evidence  of  the  French  themselves, 
that  neither  they  nor  their  emigrant  countrymen  had 
been  oppressed  or  molested  in  matters  temporal  or 
spiritual,  but  that  the  English  authorities,  recogniz¬ 
ing  their  value  as  an  industrious  population,  had 
labored  to  reconcile  them  to  a  change  of  rulers  which 
on  the  whole  was  to  their  advantage.  It  has  been 
shown  also  how,  with  a  heartless  perfidy  and  a  reck¬ 
less  disregard  of  their  welfare  and  safety,  the  French 
government  and  its  agents  labored  to  keep  them 
hostile  to  the  Crown  of  which  it  had  acknowledged 
them  to  be  subjects.  The  result  was,  that  though 
they  did  not,  like  their  emigrant  countrymen,  abandon 
their  homes,  they  remained  in  a  state  of  restless  dis¬ 
affection,  refused  to  supply  English  garrisons  with 
provisions,  except  at  most  exorbitant  rates,  smuggled 
their  produce  to  the  French  across  the  line,  gave 
them  aid  and  intelligence,  and  sometimes,  disguised 
as  Indians,  robbed  and  murdered  English  settlers. 
By  the  new-fangled  construction  of  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht  which  the  French  boundary  commissioners 
had  devised,1  more  than  half  the  Acadian  peninsula, 
including  nearly  all  the  cultivated  land  and  nearly  all 
the  population  of  French  descent,  was  claimed  as 
belonging  to  France,  though  England  had  held  pos¬ 
session  of  it  more  than  forty  years.  Hence,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  political  ethics  adopted  at  the  time  by 

L1  Supra,  p.  128. 


246  REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS.  [1755. 

both  nations,  it  would  be  lawful  for  France  to  reclaim 
it  by  force.  England,  on  her  part,  it  will  be  remem¬ 
bered,  claimed  vast  tracts  beyond  the  isthmus ;  and, 
on  the  same  pretext,  held  that  she  might  rightfully 
seize  them  and  capture  Beaus^jour,  with  the  other 
French  garrisons  that  guarded  them. 

On  the  part  of  France,  an  invasion  of  the  Acadian 
peninsula  seemed  more  than  likely.  Honor  demanded 
of  her  that,  having  incited  the  Acadians  to  disaffec¬ 
tion,  and  so  brought  on  them  the  indignation  of  the 
English  authorities,  she  should  intervene  to  save 
them  from  the  consequences.  Moreover,  the  loss  of 
the  Acadian  peninsula  had  been  gall  and  wormwood 
to  her;  and  in  losing  it  she  had  lost  great  material 
advantages.  Its  possession  was  necessary  to  connect 
Canada  with  the  Island  of  Cape  Breton  and  the 
fortress  of  Louisbourg.  Its  fertile  fields  and  agri¬ 
cultural  people  would  furnish  subsistence  to  the 
troops  and  garrisons  in  the  French  maritime  prov¬ 
inces,  now  dependent  on  supplies  illicitly  brought  by 
New  England  traders,  and  liable  to  be  cut  off  in  time 
of  war  when  they  were  needed  most.  The  harbors 
of  Acadia,  too,  would  be  invaluable  as  naval  stations 
from  which  to  curb  and  threaten  the  northern  Eng¬ 
lish  colonies.  Hence  the  intrigues  so  assiduously 
practised  to  keep  the  Acadians  French  at  heart,  and 
ready  to  throw  off  British  rule  at  any  favorable 
moment.  British  officers  believed  that  should  a 
French  squadron  with  a  sufficient  force  of  troops  on 
board  appear  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  the  whole  popu- 


1755.] 


PERIL  OF  THE  ENGLISH. 


247 


lation  on  the  Basin  of  Mines  and  along  the  Annapolis 
would  rise  in  arms,  and  that  the  emigrants  beyond 
the  isthmus,  armed  and  trained  by  French  officers, 
would  come  to  their  aid.  This  emigrant  population, 
famishing  in  exile,  looked  back  with  regret  to  the 
farms  they  had  abandoned;  and,  prevented  as  they 
were  by  Le  Loutre  and  his  colleagues  from  making 
their  peace  with  the  English,  they  would,  if  confident 
of  success,  have  gladly  joined  an  invading  force  to 
regain  their  homes  by  reconquering  Acadia  for  Louis 
XV.  In  other  parts  of  the  continent  it  was  the 
interest  of  France  to  put  off  hostilities;  if  Acadia 
alone  had  been  in  question,  it  would  have  been  her 
interest  to  precipitate  them. 

Her  chances  of  success  were  good.  The  French 
could  at  any  time  send  troops  from  Louisbourg  or 
Quebec  to  join  those  maintained  upon  the  isthmus ; 
and  they  had  on  their  side  of  the  lines  a  force  of 
militia  and  Indians  amounting  to  about  two  thou¬ 
sand,  while  the  Acadians  within  the  peninsula  had 
about  an  equal  number  of  fighting  men  who,  while 
calling  themselves  neutrals,  might  be  counted  on  to 
join  the  invaders.  The  English  were  in  no  condition 
to  withstand  such  an  attack.  Their  regular  troops 
were  scattered  far  and  wide  through  the  province, 
and  were  nowhere  more  than  equal  to  the  local 
requirement;  while  of  militia,  except  those  of  Halifax, 
they  had  few  or  none  whom  they  dared  to  trust. 
Their  fort  at  Annapolis  was  weak  and  dilapidated, 
and  their  other  posts  were  mere  stockades.  The 


248 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  AC  ADI  AN  S. 


[1755. 


strongest  place  in  Acadia  was  the  French  fort  of 
Beaus^jour,  in  which  the  English  saw  a  continual 
menace. 

Their  apprehensions  were  well  grounded.  Du- 
quesne,  governor  of  Canada,  wrote  to  Le  Loutre, 
who  virtually  shared  the  control  of  Beaus^jour  with 
Vergor,  its  commandant:  “I  invite  both  yourself 
and  M.  Vergor  to  devise  a  plausible  pretext  for 
attacking  them  [ the  English ]  vigorously.”1  Three 
weeks  after  this  letter  was  written,  Lawrence,  gov¬ 
ernor  of  Nova  Scotia,  wrote  to  Shirley  from  Halifax: 
“Being  well  informed  that  the  French  have  designs 
of  encroaching  still  farther  upon  His  Majesty’s  rights 
in  this  province,  and  that  they  propose,  the  moment 
they  have  repaired  the  fortifications  of  Louisbourg, 
to  attack  our  fort  at  Chignecto  [ Fort  Lawrence ],  I 
think  it  high  time  to  make  some  effort  to  drive  them 
from  the  north  side  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy.”2  This 
letter  was  brought  to  Boston  by  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Monckton,  who  was  charged  by  Lawrence  to  propose 
to  Shirley  the  raising  of  two  thousand  men  in  New 
England  for  the  attack  of  Beaus^jour  and  its  depend¬ 
ent  forts.  Almost  at  the  moment  when  Lawrence 
was  writing  these  proposals  to  Shirley,  Shirley  was 
writing  with  the  same  object  to  Lawrence,  enclosing 
a  letter  from  Sir  Thomas  Robinson,  concerning  which 
he  said :  “  I  construe  the  contents  to  be  orders  to  us 

1  Duquesne  a  Le  Loutre,  15  Octobre ,  1754;  extract  in  Public  Docu¬ 
ments  of  Nova  Scotia,  239. 

2  Ijawrence  to  Shirley,  5  November,  1754.  Instructions  of  Lawrence 
to  Monckton,  7  November ,  1754. 


1755.] 


ROBINSON’S  LETTER. 


249 


to  act  in  concert  for  taking  any  advantages  to  drive 
the  French  of  Canada  out  of  Nova  Scotia.  If  that  is 
your  sense  of  them,  and  your  honor  will  be  pleased 
to  let  me  know  whether  you  want  any  and  what 
assistance  to  enable  you  to  execute  the  orders,  I  will 
endeavor  to  send  you  such  assistance  from  this 
province  as  you  shall  want.”1 

The  letter  of  Sir  Thomas  Robinson,  of  which  a 
duplicate  had  already  been  sent  to  Lawrence,  was 
written  in  answer  to  one  of  Shirley  informing  the 
minister  that  the  Indians  of  Nova  Scotia,  prompted 
by  the  French,  were  about  to  make  an  attack  on  all 
the  English  settlements  east  of  the  Kennebec ; 
whereupon  Robinson  wrote:  “You  will  without 
doubt  have  given  immediate  intelligence  thereof  to 
Colonel  Lawrence,  and  will  have  concerted  the  proper- 
est  measures  with  him  for  taking  all  possible  advan¬ 
tage  in  Nova  Scotia  itself  from  the  absence  of  those 
Indians,  in  case  Mr.  Lawrence  shall  have  force 
enough  to  attack  the  forts  erected  by  the  French  in 
those  parts,  without  exposing  the  English  settle¬ 
ments;  and  I  am  particularly  to  acquaint  you  that 
if  you  have  not  already  entered  into  such  a  concert 
with  Colonel  Lawrence,  it  is  His  Majesty’s  pleasure 
that  you  should  immediately  proceed  thereupon.”2 

The  Indian  raid  did  not  take  place ;  but  not  the 
less  did  Shirley  and  Lawrence  find  in  the  minister’s 
letter  their  authorization  for  the  attack  of  Beaus6jour. 

1  Shirley  to  Lawrence ,  7  November ,  1754. 

2  Robinson  to  Shirley,  5  July,  1754. 


250 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS. 


[1755. 


Shirley  wrote  to  Robinson  that  the  expulsion  of  the 
French  from  the  forts  on  the  isthmus  was  a  necessary 
measure  of  self-defence ;  that  they  meant  to  seize  the 
whole  country  as  far  as  Mines  Basin,  and  probably  as 
far  as  Annapolis,  to  supply  their  Acadian  rebels 
with  land;  that  of  these  they  had,  without  reckoning 
Indians,  fourteen  hundred  fighting  men  on  or  near 
the  isthmus,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  more  on  the 
St.  John,  with  whom,  aided  by  the  garrison  of 
Beaus4jour,  they  could  easily  take  Fort  Lawrence; 
that  should  they  succeed  in  this,  the  whole  Acadian 
population  would  rise  in  arms,  and  the  King  would 
lose  Nova  Scotia.  We  should  anticipate  them,  con¬ 
cludes  Shirley,  and  strike  the  first  blow.1 

He  opened  his  plans  to  his  Assembly  in  secret 
session,  and  found  them  of  one  mind  with  himself. 
Preparation  was  nearly  complete,  and  the  men  raised 
for  the  expedition,  before  the  Council  at  Alexandria 
recognized  it  as  a  part  of  a  plan  of  the  summer 
campaign. 

The  French  fort  of  Beaus^jour,  mounted  on  its 

1  Shirley  to  Robinson,  8  December ,  1754.  Ibid.,  24  January,  1755. 
The  Record  Office  contains  numerous  other  letters  of  Shirley  on 
the  subject.  “Iam  obliged  to  your  Honor  for  communicating  to 
me  the  French  Me'moire,  which,  with  other  reasons,  puts  it  out  of 
doubt  that  the  French  are  determined  to  begin  an  offensive  war  on 
the  peninsula  as  soon  as  ever  they  shall  think  themselves  strength¬ 
ened  enough  to  venture  upon  it,  and  that  they  have  thoughts*  of 
attempting  it  in  the  ensuing  spring.  I  enclose  your  Honor  extracts 
from  two  letters  from  Annapolis  Royal,  which  show  that  the 
French  inhabitants  are  in  expectation  of  its  being  begun  in  the 
spring.” —  Shirley  to  Lawrence,  6  January,  1755. 


1 

cj 


\ 

A 


1755.] 


BEAUS&JOUR. 


251 


hill  between  the  marshes  of  Missaguash  and  Tantemar, 
was  a  regular  work,  pentagonal  in  form,  with  solid 
earthen  ramparts,  bomb-proofs,  and  an  armament  of 
twenty-four  cannon  and  one  mortar.  The  command¬ 
ant,  Duchambon  de  Vergor,  a  captain  in  the  colony 
regulars,  was  a  dull  man  of  no  education,  of  stuttering 
speech,  unpleasing  countenance,  and  doubtful  char¬ 
acter.  He  owed  his  place  to  the  notorious  intendant 
Bigot,  who,  it  is  said,  was  in  his  debt  for  disreputable 
service  in  an  affair  of  gallantry,  and  who  had  ample 
means  of  enabling  his  friends  to  enrich  themselves  by 
defrauding  the  King.  Beausdjour  was  one  of  those 
plague-spots  of  official  corruption  which  dotted  the 
whole  surface  of  New  France.  Bigot,  sailing  for 
Europe  in  the  summer  of  1754,  wrote  thus  to  his 
confederate:  “Profit  by  your  place,  my  dear  Vergor; 
clip  and  cut  —  you  are  free  to  do  what  you  please  — 
so  that  you  can  come  soon  to  join  me  in  France  and 
buy  an  estate  near  me.”1  Vergor  did  not  neglect 
his  opportunities.  Supplies  in  great  quantities  were 
sent  from  Quebec  for  the  garrison  and  the  emigrant 
Acadians.  These  last  got  but  a  small  part  of  them. 
Vergor  and  his  confederates  sent  the  rest  back  to 
Quebec,  or  else  to  Louisbourg,  and  sold  them  for 
their  own  profit  to  the  King’s  agents  there,  who  were 
also  in  collusion  with  him. 

^Vergor,  however,  did  not  reign  alone.  Le  Loutre, 

1  Mtmoires  sur  le  Canada ,  1749—1760.  This  letter  is  also  men¬ 
tioned  in  another  contemporary  document,  Mtmoire  sur  les  F raudes 
commises  dans  la  Colonie. 


A 

7 


■ 


252 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS.  [1755. 


by  force  of  energy,  capacity,  and  passionate  vehe¬ 
mence,  held  him  in  some  awe,  and  divided  his  author¬ 
ity.  The  priest  could  count  on  the  support  of 
Duquesne,  who  had  found,  says  a  contemporary, 
that  “  he  promised  more  than  he  could  perform,  and 
that  he  was  a  knave,”  but  who  nevertheless  felt 
compelled  to  rely  upon  him  for  keeping  the  Acadians 
on  the  side  of  France.  There  was  another  person  in 
the  fort  worthy  of  notice.  This  was  Thomas  Pichon, 
commissary  of  stores,  a  man  of  education  and  intelli¬ 
gence,  born  in  France  of  an  English  mother.  He 
was  now  acting  the  part  of  a  traitor,  carrying  on  a 
secret  correspondence  with  the  commandant  of  Fort 
Lawrence,  and  acquainting  him  with  all  that  passed 
at  Beausejour.  It  was  partly  from  this  source  that 
the  hostile  designs  of  the  French  became  known  to 
the  authorities  of  Halifax,  and  more  especially  the 
proceedings  of  “Moses,”  by  which  name  Pichon 
always  designated  Le  Loutre,  because  he  pretended 
to  have  led  the  Acadians  from  the  land  of  bondage.1 

These  exiles,  who  cannot  be  called  self-exiled,  in 
view  of  the  outrageous  means  used  to  force  most  of 
them  from  their  homes,  were  in  a  deplorable  condi¬ 
tion.  They  lived  in  constant  dread  of  Le  Loutre, 
backed  by  Yergor  and  his  soldiers.  The  savage  mis¬ 
sionary,  bad  as  he  was,  had  in  him  an  ingredient  of 

1  Pichon,  called  also  Tyrrell  from  the  name  of  his  mother,  was 
author  of  Genuine  Letters  and  Memoirs  relating  to  Cape  Breton,  —  a 
hook  of  some  value.  His  papers  are  preserved  at  Halifax,  and 
some  of  them  are  printed  in  the  Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia. 


1755.]  THREATS  OF  LE  LOUTRE.  253 

honest  fanaticism,  both  national  and  religious ;  though 
hatred  of  the  English  held  a  large  share  in  it.  He 
would  gladly,  if  he  could,  have  formed  the  Acadians 
into  a  permanent  settlement  on  the  French  side  of 
the  line,  not  out  of  love  for  them,  but  in  the  interest 
of  the  cause  with  which  he  had  identified  his  own 
ambition.  His  efforts  had  failed.  There  was  not 
land  enough  for  their  subsistence  and  that  of  the 
older  settlers;  and  the  suffering  emigrants  pined 
more  and  more  for  their  deserted  farms.  Thither  he 
was  resolved  that  they  should  not  return.  “If  you 
go,”  he  told  them,  “you  will  have  neither  priests  nor 
sacraments,  but  will  die  like  miserable  wretches.”1 
The  assertion  was  false.  Priests  and  sacraments 
had  never  been  denied  them.  It  is  true  that  Daudin, 
priest  of  Pisiquid,  had  lately  been  sent  to  Halifax 
for  using  insolent  language  to  the  commandant, 
threatening  him  with  an  insurrection  of  the  inhab¬ 
itants,  and  exciting  them  to  sedition;  but  on  his 
promise  to  change  conduct,  he  was  sent  back  to  his 
parishioners.2  Vergor  sustained  Le  Loutre,  and 
threatened  to  put  in  irons  any  of  the  exiles  who 
talked  of  going  back  to  the  English.  Some  of  them 
bethought  themselves  of  an  appeal  to  Duquesne,  and 
drew  up  a  petition  asking  leave  to  return  home.  Le 
Loutre  told  the  signers  that  if  they  did  not  efface 
their  marks  from  the  paper  they  should  have  neither 

1  Pichon  to  Captain  Scott ,  14  October,  1754,  in  Public  Documents  of 
Nova  Scotia,  229. 

2  Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia,  223,  224,  22C,  227,  238. 


254 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS. 


[1755. 


sacraments  in  this  life,  nor  heaven  in  the  next.  He 
nevertheless  allowed  two  of  them  to  go  to  Quebec  as 
deputies,  writing  at  the  same  time  to  the  governor, 
that  his  mind  might  be  duly  prepared.  Duquesne 
replied:  “I  think  that  the  two  rascals  of  deputies 
whom  you  sent  me  will  not  soon  recover  from  the 
fright  I  gave  them,  notwithstanding  the  emollient  I 
administered  after  my  reprimand;  and  since  I  told 
them  that  they  were  indebted  to  you  for  not  being 
allowed  to  rot  in  a  dungeon,  they  have  promised  me 
to  comply  with  your  wishes.” 1 

An  entire  heartlessness  marked  the  dealings  of  the 
French  authorities  with  the  Acadians.  They  were 
treated  as  mere  tools  of  policy,  to  be  used,  broken, 
and  flung  away.  Yet,  in  using  them,  the  sole  condi¬ 
tion  of  their  efficiency  was  neglected.  The  French 
government,  cheated  of  enormous  sums  by  its  own 
ravenous  agents,  grudged  the  cost  of  sending  a  single 
regiment  to  the  Acadian  border.  Thus  unsupported, 
the  Acadians  remained  in  fear  and  vacillation,  aiding 
the  French  but  feebly,  though  a  ceaseless  annoyance 
and  menace  to  the  English. 

This  was  the  state  of  affairs  at  Beausdjour  while 
Shirley  and  Lawrence  were  planning  its  destruction. 
Lawrence  had  empowered  his  agent,  Monckton,  to 
draw  without  limit  on  two  Boston  merchants, 
Apthorp  and  Hancock.  Shirley,  as  commander-in¬ 
chief  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts,  commissioned 
John  Winslow  to  raise  two  thousand  volunteers. 

1  Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia,  239. 


1755.] 


JOHN  WINSLOW. 


255 


Winslow  was  sprung  from  the  early  governors  of 
Plymouth  colony;  but,  though  well-born,  he  was 
ill-educated,  which  did  not  prevent  him  from  being 
both  popular  and  influential.  He  had  strong  military 
inclinations,  had  led  a  company  of  his  own  raising 
in  the  luckless  attack  on  Carthagena,  had  commanded 
the  force  sent  in  the  preceding  summer  to  occupy 
the  Kennebec,  and  on  various  other  occasions  had 
left  his  Marshfield  farm  to  serve  his  country.  The 
men  enlisted  readily  at  his  call,  and  were  formed  into 
a  regiment,  of  which  Shirley  made  himself  the 
nominal  colonel.  It  had  two  battalions,  of  which 
Winslow,  as  lieutenant-colonel,  commanded  the  first, 
and  George  Scott  the  second,  both  under  the  orders 
of  Monckton.  Country  villages  far  and  near,  from 
the  western  borders  of  the  Connecticut  to  uttermost 
Cape  Cod,  lent  soldiers  to  the  new  regiment.  The 
muster-rolls  preserve  their  names,  vocations,  birth¬ 
places,  and  abode.  Obadiah,  Nehemiah,  Jedediah, 
Jonathan,  Ebenezer,  Joshua,  and  the  like  Old  Testa¬ 
ment  names  abound  upon  the  list.  Some  are  set 
down  as  “farmers,”  “yeomen,”  or  “husbandmen;” 
others  as  “shopkeepers,”  others  as  “fishermen,”  and 
many  as  “  laborers ;  ”  while  a  great  number  were 
handicraftsmen  of  various  trades,  from  blacksmiths 
to  wig-makers.  They  mustered  at  Boston  early  in 
April,  where  clothing,  haversacks,  and  blankets  were 
served  out  to  them  at  the  charge  of  the  King;  and 
the  crooked  streets  of  the  New  England  capital  were 
filled  with  staring  young  rustics.  On  the  next 


256 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  AC  ADI  AN  S.  [1755 

Saturday  the  following  mandate  went  forth:  “The 
men  will  behave  very  orderly  on  the  Sabbath  Day, 
and  either  stay  on  board  their  transports,  or  else  go 
to  church,  and  not  stroll  up  and  down  the  streets.’’ 
The  transports,  consisting  of  about  forty  sloops  and 
schooners,  lay  at  Long  Wharf ;  and  here  on  Monday 
a  grand  review  took  place,  —  to  the  gratification,  no 
doubt,  of  a  populace  whose  amusements  were  few. 
All  was  ready  except  the  muskets,  which  were 
expected  from  England,  but  did  not  come.  Hence 
the  delay  of  a  month,  threatening  to  ruin  the  enter¬ 
prise.  When  Shirley  returned  from  Alexandria  he 
found,  to  his  disgust,  that  the  transports  still  lay  at 
the  wharf  where  he  had  left  them  on  his  departure.1 
The  muskets  arrived  at  length,  and  the  fleet  sailed 
on  the  twenty-second  of  May.  Three  small  frigates, 
the  “Success,”  the  “Mermaid,”  and  the  “Siren,” 
commanded  by  the  ex-privateersman,  Captain  Rous, 
acted  as  convoy ;  and  on  the  twTenty-sixth  the  whole 
force  safely  reached  Annapolis.  Thence  after  some 
delay  they  sailed  up  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  at  sunset 
on  the  first  of  June  anchored  within  five  miles  of  the 
hill  of  Beausdjour. 

At  two  o’clock  on  the  next  morning  a  party  of 
Acadians  from  Chipody  roused  Yergor  with  the  news. 
In  great  alarm,  he  sent  a  messenger  to  Louisbourg  to 
beg  for  help,  and  ordered  all  the  fighting  men  of  the 
neighborhood  to  repair  to  the  fort.  They  counted  in 


1  Shirley  to  Robinson,  20  June,  1755. 


1755.] 


MONCKTON’S  ARRIVAL. 


257 


all  between  twelve  and  fifteen  hundred;1  but  they 
had  no  appetite  for  war.  The  force  of  the  invaders 
daunted  them;  and  the  hundred  and  sixty  regulars 
who  formed  the  garrison  of  Beausdjour  were  too  few 
to  revive  their  confidence.  Those  of  them  who  had 
crossed  from  the  English  side  dreaded  what  might 
ensue  should  they  be  caught  in  arms ;  and,  to  prepare 
an  excuse  beforehand,  they  begged  Vergor  to  threaten 
them  with  punishment  if  they  disobeyed  his  order. 
He  willingly  complied,  promised  to  have  them  killed 
if  they  did  not  fight,  and  assured  them  at  the  same 
time  that  the  English  could  never  take  the  fort.2 
Three  hundred  of  them  thereupon  joined  the  garri¬ 
son,  and  the  rest,  hiding  their  families  in  the  woods, 
prepared  to  wage  guerilla  war  against  the  invaders. 

Monckton,  with  all  his  force,  landed  unopposed, 
and  encamped  at  night  on  the  fields  around  Fort 
Lawrence,  whence  he  could  contemplate  Fort  Beau¬ 
s' jour  at  his  ease.  The  regulars  of  the  English  gar¬ 
rison  joined  the  New  England  men;  and  then,  on 
the  morning  of  the  fourth,  they  marched  to  the 
attack.  Their  course  lay  along  the  south  bank  of 
the  Missaguash  to  where  it  was  crossed  by  a  bridge 
called  Pont-a-Buot.  This  bridge  had  been  destroyed ; 
and  on  the  farther  bank  there  was  a  large  block¬ 
house  and  a  breastwork  of  timber  defended  by  four 

1  Memoires  sur  te  Canada ,  1749-1760.  An  English  document. 
State  of  the  English  and  French  Forts  in  Nova  Scotia,  sJtys  1,200  to 
1,400. 

2  Memoires  sur  le  Canada ,  1749-1760. 

VOL.  i.  — 17 


258 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS. 


[1755. 


hundred  regulars,  Acadians,  and  Indians.  They 
lay  silent  and  unseen  till  the  head  of  the  column 
reached  the  opposite  bank;  then  raised  a  yell  and 
opened  fire,  causing  some  loss.  Three  field-pieces 
were  brought  up,  the  defenders  were  driven  out,  and 
a  bridge  was  laid  under  a  spattering  fusillade  from 
behind  bushes,  which  continued  till  the  English  had 
crossed  the  stream.  Without  further  opposition, 
they  marched  along  the  road  to  Beaus^jour,  and, 
turning  to  the  right,  encamped  among  the  woody 
hills  half  a  league  from  the  fort.  That  night  there 
was  a  grand  illumination,  for  Vergor  set  fire  to  the 
church  and  all  the  houses  outside  the  ramparts.1 

The  English  spent  some  days  in  preparing  their 
camp  and  reconnoitring  the  ground.  Then  Scott, 
with  five  hundred  provincials,  seized  upon  a  ridge 
within  easy  range  of  the  works.  An  officer  named 
Vannes  came  out  to  oppose  him  with  a  hundred  and 
eighty  men,  boasting  that  he  would  do  great  things ; 
but  on  seeing  the  enemy,  quietly  returned,  to  become 
the  laughing-stock  of  the  garrison.  The  fort  fired 
furiously,  but  with  little  effect.  In  the  night  of  the 
thirteenth,  Winslow,  with  a  part  of  his  own  battalion, 
relieved  Scott,  and  planted  in  the  trenches  two  small 
mortars,  brought  to  the  camp  on  carts.  On  the  next 
day  they  opened  fire.  One  of  them  was  disabled  by 
the  French  cannon,  but  Captain  Hazen  brought  up 

1  Winslow,  Journal  and  Letter  Book.  Memoires  sur  le  Canada , 
1749-1760.  Letters  from  officers  on  the  spot  in  Boston  Evening  Post 
and  Boston  News  Letter.  Journal  of  Surgeon  John  Thomas. 


1755.] 


SIEGE  OF  BEAUSEJOUR. 


259 


two  more,  of  larger  size,  on  ox-wagons;  and,  in 
spite  of  heavy  rain,  the  fire  was  brisk  on  both  sides. 

Captain  Rous,  on  board  his  ship  in  the  harbor, 
watched  the  bombardment  with  great  interest.  Hav¬ 
ing  occasion  to  write  to  Winslow,  he  closed  his  letter 
in  a  facetious  strain.  “  I  often  hear  of  your  success 
in  plunder,  particularly  a  coach.1  I  hope  you  have 
some  fine  horses  for  it,  at  least  four,  to  draw  it,  that 
it  may  be  said  a  New  England  colonel  [rode  in]  his 
coach  and  four  in  Nova  Scotia.  If  you  have  any 
good  saddle-horses  in  your  stable,  I  should  be  obliged 
to  you  for  one  to  ride  round  the  ship’s  deck  on  for 
exercise,  for  I  am  not  likely  to  have  any  other.” 

Within  the  fort  there  was  little  promise  of  a  strong 
defence.  Le  Loutre,  it  is  true,  was  to  be  seen  in  his 
shirt-sleeves,  with  a  pipe  in  his  mouth,  directing  the 
Acadians  in  their  work  of  strengthening  the  fortifica¬ 
tions.2  They,  on  their  part,  thought  more  of  escape 
than  of  fighting.  Some  of  them  vainly  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  go  home ;  others  went  off  without  leave, 

—  which  was  not  difficult,  as  only  one  side  of  the 
place  was  attacked.  Even  among  the  officers  there 
were  some  in  whom  interest  was  stronger  than  honor, 
and  who  would  rather  rob  the  King  than  die  for  him. 
The  general  discouragement  was  redoubled  when,  on 
the  fourteenth,  a  letter  came  from  the  commandant  / 

1  “  11  June.  Capt.  Adams  went  with  a  Company  of  Raingers, 
and  Returned  at  11  Clock  with  a  Coach  and  Sum  other  Plunder/’ 

—  Journal  of  John  Thomas. 

2  Journal  of  Pichon,  cited  by  Beamish  Murdoch. 


260 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS.  [1755. 


of  Louisbourg  to  say  that  he  could  send  no  help,  aa 
British  ships  blocked  the  way.  On  the  morning  of 
the  sixteenth,  a  mischance  befell,  recorded  in  these 
words  in  the  Diary  of  Surgeon  John  Thomas:  “One 
of  our  large  shells  fell  through  what  they  called  their 
f  bomb-proof,  where  a  number  of  their  officers  were 
sitting,  killed  six  of  them  dead,  and  one  Ensign  Hay, 
which  the  Indians  had  took  prisoner  a  few  days  agone 
and  carried  to  the  fort.”  The  party  was  at  breakfast 
when  the  unwelcome  visitor  burst  in.  Just  opposite 
was  a  second  bomb-proof,  where  was  Vergor  himself, 
with  Le  Loutre,  another  priest,  and  several  officers, 
who  felt  that  they  might  at  any  time  share  the  same 
fate.  The  effect  was  immediate.  The  English, 
who  had  not  yet  got  a  single  cannon  into  position, 
saw  to  their  surprise  a  white  flag  raised  on  the  ram¬ 
part.  Some  officers  of  the  garrison  protested  against 
surrender;  and  Le  Loutre,  who  thought  that  he  had 
everything  to  fear  at  the  hands  of  the  victors, 
exclaimed  that  it  was  better  to  be  buried  under  the 
ruins  of  the  fort  than  to  give  it  up ;  but  all  was  in 
vain,  and  the  valiant  Vannes  was  sent  out  to  propose 
terms  of  capitulation.  They  were  rejected,  and 
others  offered,  to  the  following  effect:  the  garrison 
to  march  out  with  the  honors  of  war  and  to  be  sent 
to  Louisbourg  at  the  charge  of  the  King  of  England, 
but  not  to  bear  arms  in  America  for  the  space  of  six 
months ;  the  Acadians  to  be  pardoned  the  part  they 
had  just  borne  in  the  defence,  “  seeing  that  they  had 
been  compelled  to  take  arms  on  pain  of  death.” 


1755.J 


FLIGHT  OF  LE  LOUTRE. 


261 


Confusion  reigned  all  day  at  Beausdjour.  The 
Acadians  went  home  loaded  with  plunder.  The 
French  officers  were  so  busy  in  drinking  and  pillag¬ 
ing  that  they  could  hardly  be  got  away  to  sign  the 
capitulation.  At  the  appointed  hour,  seven  in  the 
evening,  Scott  marched  in  with  a  body  of  provincials, 
raised  the  British  flag  on  the  ramparts,  and  saluted 
it  by  a  general  discharge  of  the  French  cannon,  while 
Vergor  as  a  last  act  of  hospitality  gave  a  supper  to 
the  officers.1 

Le  Loutre  was  not  to  be  found ;  he  had  escaped  in 
disguise  with  his  box  of  papers,  and  fled  to  Baye 
Verte  to  join  his  brother  missionary,  Manach. 
Thence  he  made  his  way  to  Quebec,  where  the 
bishop  received  him  with  reproaches.  He  soon 
embarked  for  France;  but  the  English  captured  him 
on  the  way,  and  kept  him  eight  years  in  Elizabeth 
Castle,  on  the  Island  of  Jersey.  Here  on  one  occa¬ 
sion  a  soldier  on  guard  made  a  dash  at  the  father, 
tried  to  stab  him  with  his  bayonet,  and  was  prevented 
with  great  difficulty.  He  declared  that,  when  he  was 
with  his  regiment  in  Acadia,  he  had  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  Le  Loutre,  and  narrowly  escaped  being 
scalped  alive,  the  missionary  having  doomed  him  to 
this  fate,  and  with  his  own  hand  drawn  a  knife  round 
his  head  as  a  beginning  of  the  operation.  The  man 
swore  so  fiercely  that  he  would  have  his  revenge 

1  On  the  capture  of  Beausejour,  Mdmoires  sur  le  Canada,  1749- 
1760;  Pichon,  Cape  Breton,  318;  Journal  of  Pichon,  cited  by  Mur* 
doch ;  and  the  English  accounts  already  mentioned. 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS. 


262 


[1755. 


that  the  officer  in  command  transferred  him  to 
another  post.1 

Throughout  the  siege,  the  Acadians  outside  the 
fort,  aided  by  Indians,  lrad  constantly  attacked  the 
English,  but  were  always  beaten  off  with  loss.  There 
was  an  affair  of  this  kind  on  the  morning  of  the  sur¬ 
render,  during  which  a  noted  Micmac  chief  was  shot, 
and  being  brought  into  the  camp,  recounted  the 
losses  of  his  tribe ;  “  after  which,  and  taking  a  dram 
or  two,  he  quickly  died,”  writes  Winslow  in  his 
Journal. 

Fort  Gaspereau,  at  Baye  Verte,  twelve  miles 
distant,  was  summoned  by  letter  to  surrender.  Vil- 
leray,  its  commandant,  at  once  complied ;  and 
Winslow  went  with  a  detachment  to  take  possession.2 
Nothing  remained  but  to  occupy  the  French  post  at 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  John.  Captain  Rous,  relieved 
at  last  from  inactivity,  was  charged  with  the  task; 
and  on  the  thirtieth  he  appeared  off  the  harbor, 
manned  his  boats,  and  rowed  for  shore.  The  French 
burned  their  fort,  and  withdrew  beyond  his  reach.3 
A  hundred  and  fifty  Indians,  suddenly  converted 
from  enemies  to  pretended  friends,  stood  on  the 
strand,  firing  their  guns  into  the  air  as  a  salute,  and 
declaring  themselves  brothers  of  the  English.  All 
Acadia  was  now  in  British  hands.  Fort  Beausdjour 

1  Knox,  Campaigns  in  North  America,  i.  114,  note.  Knox,  who 
was  stationed  in  Nova  Scotia,  says  that  Le  Loutre  left  behind  him 
“  a  most  remarkable  character  for  inhumanity .” 

2  Winslow,  Journal.  Villeray  an  Ministre,  20  Septemhre,  1755. 

3  Drucour  au  Ministre ,  1  De'cembre,  1755. 


1755.] 


VERGOR  ACQUITTED. 


263 


became  Fort  Cumberland,  —  the  second  fort  in 
America  that  bore  the  name  of  the  royal  duke. 

The  defence  had  been  of  the  feeblest.  Two  years 
later,  on  pressing  demands  from  Versailles,  Vergor 
was  brought  to  trial,  as  was  also  Villeray.  The 
governor,  Vaudreuil,  and  the  intendant,  Bigot,  who 
had  returned  to  Canada,  were  in  the  interest  of  the 
chief  defendant.  The  court-martial  was  packed ; 
adverse  evidence  was  shuffled  out  of  sight;  and 
Vergor,  acquitted  and  restored  to  his  rank,  lived  to 
inflict  on  New  France  another  and  a  greater  injury.1 

Now  began  the  first  act  of  a  deplorable  drama. 
Monckton,  with  his  small  body  of  regulars,  had 
pitched  their  tents  under  the  walls  of  Beausdjour. 
Winslow  and  Scott,  with  the  New  England  troops, 
lay  not  far  off.  There  was  little  intercourse  between 
the  two  camps.  The  British  officers  bore  themselves 
towards  those  of  the  provincials  with  a  supercilious 
coldness  common  enough  on  their  part  throughout 
the  war.  July  had  passed  in  what  Winslow  calls 
“an  indolent  manner,”  with  prayers  every  day  in  the 
Puritan  camp,  when,  early  in  August,  Monckton  sent 
for  him,  and  made  an  ominous  declaration.  “The  . 
said  Monckton  was  so  free  as  to  acquaint  me  that  it 
was  determined  to  remove  all  the  French  inhabitants 
out  of  the  province,  and  that  he  should  send  for  all 
the  adult  males  from  Tantemar,  Chipody,  Aulac, 
Beaus^jour,  and  Baye  Verte  to  read  the  Governor’s 

1  Memoir e  sur  les  Fraudes  commises  dans  la  Colonie,  1779.  M& 
moires  sur  le  Canada }  1749-1760, 


264 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS 


[1755. 


orders ;  and  when  that  was  done,  was  determined  to 
retain  them  all  prisoners  in  the  fort.  And  this  is 
the  first  conference  of  a  public  nature  I  have  had 
with  the  colonel  since  the  reduction  of  Beausejour ; 
and  I  apprehend  that  no  officer  of  either  corps  has 
been  made  more  free  with.” 

Monckton  sent  accordingly  to  all  the  neighboring 
settlements,  commanding  the  male  inhabitants  to 
meet  him  at  Beausejour.  Scarcely  a  third  part  of 
their  number  obeyed.  These  arrived  on  the  tenth, 
and  were  told  to  stay  all  night  under  the  guns  of  the 
fort.  What  then  befell  them  will  appear  from  an 
entry  in  the  diary  of  Winslow  under  date  of  August 
eleventh :  “  This  day  was  one  extraordinary  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Tantemar,  Oueskak,  Aulac,  Baye 
Verte,  Beausejour,  and  places  adjacent;  the  male 
inhabitants,  or  the  principal  of  them,  being  collected 
together  in  Fort  Cumberland  to  hear  the  sentence, 
which  determined  their  property,  from  the  Governor 
and  Council  of  Halifax ;  which  was  that  they  were 
declared  rebels,  their  lands,  goods,  and  chattels  for¬ 
feited  to  the  Crown,  and  their  bodies  to  be  imprisoned. 
Upon  which  the  gates  of  the  fort  were  shut,  and  they 
all  confined,  to  the  amount  of  four  hundred  men  and 
upwards.”  Parties  were  sent  to  gather  more,  but 
caught  very  few,  the  rest  escaping  to  the  woods. 

Some  of  the  prisoners  were  no  doubt  among  those 
who  had  joined  the  garrison  at  Beausejour,  and  had 
been  pardoned  for  doing  so  by  the  tertns  of  the 
capitulation.  It  was  held,  however,  that,  though 


1755.] 


ITS  MOTIVES. 


265 


forgiven  this  special  offence,  they  were  not  exempted 
from  the  doom  that  had  gone  forth  against  the  great 
body  of  their  countrymen.  We  must  look  closely  at 
thfl  motives  and  execution  of  this  stern  sentence. 
r  At  any  time  up  to  the  spring  of  1755  the  emigrant 
Acadians  were  free  to  return  to  their  homes  on  tak¬ 
ing  the  ordinary  oath  of  allegiance  required  of  British 
subjects.  The  English  authorities  of  Halifax  used 
every  means  to  persuade  them  to  do  so;  yet  the 
greater  part  refused.  This  was  due  not  only  to  Le 
Loutre  and  his  brother  priests,  backed  by  the  mili¬ 
tary  power,  but  also  to  the  bishop  of  Quebec,  who 
enjoined  the  Acadians  to  demand  of  the  English  cer¬ 
tain  concessions,  the  chief  of  which  were  that  the 
priests  should  exercise  their  functions  without  being 
required  to  ask  leave  of  the  governor,  and  that  the 
inhabitants  should  not  be  called  upon  for  military 
service  of  any  kind.  The  bishop  added  that  the 
provisions  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  were  insufficient, 
and  that  others  ought  to  be  exacted.1  The  oral 
declaration  of  the  English  authorities,  that  for  the 
present  the  Acadians  should  not  be  required  to  bear 
arms,  was  not  thought  enough.  They,  or  rather 
their  prompters,  demanded  a  written  pledge. 

The  refusal  to  take  the  oath  without  reservation 
was  not  confined  to  the  emigrants.  Those  who 
remained  in  the  peninsula  equally  refused  it,  though 
most  of  them  were  born  and  had  always  lived  under 

1  L’Dveque  de  Quebec  a  Le  Loutre ,  Novembre,  1754,  in  Public  Docu¬ 
ments  of  Nova  Scotia,  240. 


266  REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS.  [1755. 

*  v .. 

the  British  flag.  For  from  pledging  themselves  to 
complete  allegiance,  they  showed  continual  signs  of 
hostility.  In  May  three  pretended  French  deserters 
were  detected  among  them  inciting  them  to  take 
arms  against  the  English.1 

On  the  capture  of  Beausdjour  the  British  authori¬ 
ties  found  themselves  in  a  position  of  great  difficulty. 
The  New  England  troops  were  enlisted  for  the  year 
only,  and  could  not  be  kept  in  Acadia.  It  was  likely 
that  the  French  would  make  a  strong  effort  to  recover 
the  province,  sure  as  they  were  of  support  from  the 
great  body  of  its  people.  The  presence  of  this  dis¬ 
affected  population  was  for  the  French  commanders  a 
continual  inducement  to  invasion ;  and  Lawrence 
was  not  strong  enough  to  cope  at  once  with  attack 
from  without  and  insurrection  from  within. 

Shirley  had  held  for  some  time  that  there  was  no 
safety  for  Acadia  but  in  ridding  it  of  the  Acadians. 
He  had  lately  proposed  that  the  lands  of  the  district 
of  Chignecto,  abandoned  by  their  emigrant  owners, 
should  be  given  to  English  settlers,  who  would  act 
as  a  check  and  a  counterpoise  to  the  neighboring 
French  population.  This  advice  had  not  been  acted 
upon.  Nevertheless  Shirley  and  his  brother  governor 
of  Nova  Scotia  were  kindred  spirits,  and  inclined  to 
similar  measures.  Colonel  Charles  Lawrence  had 
not  the  good-nature  and  conciliatory  temper  which 
marked  his  predecessors,  Cornwallis  and  Hopson. 
His  energetic  will  was  not  apt  to  relent  under  the 

1  L’Pceque  de  Quebec  a  Le  Loutre ,  Novembre,  1754,  in  Public  Dec - 
uments  of  Nova  Scotia,  242. 


^ - y _ _ _ 

1755.]  VIEWS  OlVJE^fi^ISH  AUTHORITIES.  267 

softer  sentiments,  aim  the  behavior  of  the  Acadians 
was  fast  exhausting  his  patience.  More  than  a  year 
before,  the  Lords  of  Trade  had  instructed  him  that 
they  had  no  right  to  their  lands  if  they  persisted  in 
refusing  the  oath.1  Lawrence  replied,  enlarging  on 
their  obstinacy,  treachery,  and  “ingratitude  for  the 
favor,  indulgence,  and  protection  they  have  at  all 
times  so  undeservedly  received  from  His  Majesty’s 
Government;”  declaring  at  the  same  time  that, 
“while  they  remain  without  taking  the  oaths,  and 
have  incendiary  French  priests  among  them,  there 
are  no  hopes  of  their  amendment ;  ”  and  that  “  it 
would  be  much  better,  if  they  refuse  the  oaths,  that 
they  were  away.”2  “We  were  in  hopes,”  again 
wrote  the  Lords  of  Trade,  “that  the  lenity  which 
had  been  shown  to  those  people  by  indulging  them 
in  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion  and  the  quiet 
possession  of  their  lands,  would  by  degrees  have 
gained  their  friendship  and  assistance,  and  weaned 
their  affections  from  the  French ;  but  we  are  sorry  to 
find  that  this  lenity  has  had  so  little  effect,  and  that 
they  still  hold  the  same  conduct,  furnishing  them 
with  labor,  provisions,  and  intelligence,  and  conceal¬ 
ing  their  designs  from  us.”  In  fact,  the  Acadians, 
while  calling  themselves  neutrals,  were  an  enemy 
encamped  in  the  heart  of  the  province.  These  are 
the  reasons  which  explain  and  palliate  a  measure  too 
harsh  and  indiscriminate  to  be  wholly  justified. 

Abbd  Raynal,  who  never  saw  the  Acadians,  has 

1  Lords  of  Trade  to  Lawrence ,  4  March,  1754. 

2  Lawrence  to  Lords  of  Trade,  1  August,  1754. 


268  REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIAISTS.  [175& 

made  an  ideal  picture  of  them,1  since  copied  and 
improved  in  prose  and  verse,  till  Acadia  has  become 
Arcadia.  The  plain  realities  of  their  condition  and 
fate  are  touching  enough  to  need  no  exaggeration. 
They  were  a  simple  and  very  ignorant  peasantry, 
industrious  and  frugal  till  evil  days  came  to  discour¬ 
age  them ;  living  aloof  from  the  world,  with  little  of 
that  spirit  of  adventure  which  an  easy  access  to  the 
vast  fur-bearing  interior  had  developed  in  their 
Canadian  kindred;  having  few  wants,  and  those  of 
the  rudest;  fishing  a  little  and  hunting  in  the  winter, 
but  chiefly  employed  in  cultivating  the  meadows 
along  the  river  Annapolis,  or  rich  marshes  reclaimed 
by  dikes  from  the  tides  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  The 
British  government  left  them  entirely  free  of  taxa¬ 
tion.  They  made  clothing  of  flax  and  wool  of  their 
own  raising,  hats  of  similar  materials,  and  shoes  or 
moccasons  of  moose  and  seal  skin.  They  bred  cattle, 
sheep,  hogs,  and  horses  in  abundance ;  and  the  valley 
of  the  Annapolis,  then  as  now,  was  known  for  the 
profusion  and  excellence  of  its  apples.  For  drink, 
they  made  cider  or  brewed  spruce-beer.  French 
officials  describe  their  dwellings  as  wretched  wooden 
boxes,  without  ornaments  or  conveniences,  and 
scarcely  supplied  with  the  most  necessary  furniture.2 
Two  or  more  families  often  occupied  the  same  house ; 
and  their  way  of  life,  though  simple  and  virtuous, 

1  Histoire  philosophique  et  politique,  vi.  242  (ed.  1772). 

Beauhamois  et  Hocquart  au  Comte  de  Maurepas,  12  Septembre , 


J755-3  THEIR  CHARACTER.  269 

was  by  no  means  remarkable  for  cleanliness.  Such 
as  it  was,  contentment  reigned  among  them,  undis¬ 
turbed  by  what  modern  America  calls  progress. 
Marriages  were  early,  and  population  grew  apace. 
This  humble  society  had  its  disturbing  elements  ;  for 
the  Acadians,  like  the  Canadians,  were  a  litigious 
race,  and  neighbors  often  quarrelled  about  their 
boundaries.  Nor  were  they  without  a  bountiful 
share  of  jealousy,  gossip,  and  backbiting,  to  relieve 
the  monotony  of  their  lives ;  and  every  village  had  its 
turbulent  spirits,  sometimes  by  fits,  though  rarely 
long,  contumacious  even  toward  the  cur^,  the  guide, 
counsellor,  and  ruler  of  his  flock.  Enfeebled  by 
hereditary  mental  subjection,  and  too  long  kept  in 
leading-strings  to  walk  alone,  they  needed  him,  not 
for  the  next  world  only,  but  for  this;  and  their  sub¬ 
mission,  compounded  of  love  and  fear,  was  commonly 
without  bounds.  He  was  their  true  government ;  to 
him  they  gave  a  frank  and  full  allegiance,  and  dared 
not  disobey  him  if  they  would.  Of  knowledge  he 
gave  them  nothing;  but  he  taught  them  to  be  true  to 
their  wtv es  and  constant  at  confession  and  mass, 
to  stand  fast  for  the  Church  and  King  Louis,  and  to 
resist  heresy  and  King  George ;  for,  in  one  degree  or 
another,  the  Acadian  priest  was  always  the  agent 
b  e  headed  foreign  power,  —  the  bishop  of 
Quebec  allied  with  the  governor  of  Canada.1 

When  Monckton  and  the  Massachusetts  men  laid 

1  Franquet,  Journal,  1751,  says  of  the  Acadians:  "  Ils  aiment 
l’argent,  n’ont  dans  toute  leur  conduite  que  leur  interet  pour  objet. 


\ 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS. 

siege  to  Beaus^jour,  Governor  Lawrence  thought  the 
moment  favorable  for  exacting  an  unqualified  oath  of 
allegiance  from  the  Acadians.  The  presence  of  a 
superior  and  victorious  force  would  help,  he  thought, 
to  bring  them  to  reason ;  and  there  were  some  indica¬ 
tions  that  this  would  be  the  result.  A  number  of 
Acadian  families,  who  at  the  promptings  of  Le  Loutre 
had  emigrated  to  Cape  Breton,  had  lately  returned 
to  Halifax,  promising  to  be  true  subjects  of  King 
George  if  they  could  be  allowed  to  repossess  their 
lands.  They  cheerfully  took  the  oath;  on  which 
A  they  were  reinstated  in  their  old  homes,  and  supplied 
with  food  for  the  winter.1  Their  example  unfortu¬ 
nately  found  few  imitators. 

Early  in  June  the  principal  inhabitants  of  Grand 
Pre  and  other  settlements  about  the  Basin  of  Mines 
brought  a  memorial,  signed  with  their  crosses,  to 
Captain  Murray,  the  military  commandant  in  their 
district,  and  desired  him  to  send  it  to  Governor 
Lawrence,  to  whom  it  was  addressed.  Murray 
reported  that  when  they  brought  it  to  him  they 
behaved  with  the  greatest  insolence,  though  just 
before  they  had  been  unusually  submissive.  He 
thought  that  this  change  of  demeanor  was  caused  by 
a  report  which  had  lately  got  among  them  of  a  French 
fleet  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy ;  for  it  had  been  observed 

sont,  indifferemment  des  deux  sexes,  d’une  inconsideration  dans 
leurs  discours  qui  denote  de  la  mechancete'.”  Another  observer, 
Diereville,  gives  a  more  favorable  picture. 

1  Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia ,  228. 


1755.] 


THEIR  MEMORIAL. 


271 


that  any  rumor  of  an  approaching  French  force 
always  had  a  similar  effect.  The  deputies  who 
brought  the  memorial  were  sent  with  it  to  Halifax, 
where  they  laid  it  before  the  governor  and  Council. 
It  declared  that  the  signers  had  kept  the  qualified 
oath  they  had  taken,  “in  spite  of  the  solicitations 
and  dreadful  threats  of  another  power,  ”  and  that  they 
would  continue  to  prove  “an  unshaken  fidelity  to 
His  Majesty,  provided  that  His  Majesty  shall  allow 
us  the  same  liberty  that  he  has  [hitherto]  granted 
us.”  Their  memorial  then  demanded,  in  terms 
highly  offensive  to  the  Council,  that  the  guns, 
pistols,  and  other  weapons,  which  they  had  lately 
been  required  to  give  up,  should  be  returned  to 
them.  They  were  told  in  reply  that  they  had 
been  protected  for  many  years  in  the  enjoyment  of 
their  lands,  though  they  had  not  complied  with 
the  terms  on  which  the  lands  were  granted;  “that 
they  had  always  been  treated  by  the  Government 
with  the  greatest  lenity  and  tenderness,  had  en¬ 
joyed  more  privileges  than  other  English  subjects, 
and  had  been  indulged  in  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion;”  all  which  they  acknowledged  to  be  true. 
The  governor  then  told  them  that  their  conduct  had 
been  undutiful  and  ungrateful;  “that  they  had  dis¬ 
covered  a  constant  disposition  to  assist  His  Majesty’s 
enemies  and  to  distress  his  subjects;  that  they  had 
not  only  furnished  the  enemy  with  provisions  and 
ammunition,  but  had  refused  to  supply  the  [English'] 
inhabitants  or  Government,  and  when  they  did  supply 


272 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS.  [1755. 


them,  had  exacted  three  times  the  price  for  which 
they  were  sold  at  other  markets.”  The  hope  was 
then  expressed  that  they  would  no  longer  obstruct 
the  settlement  of  the  province  by  aiding  the  Indians 
to  molest  and  kill  English  settlers;  and  they  were 
rebuked  for  saying  in  their  memorial  that  they  would 
be  faithful  to  the  King  only  on  certain  conditions. 
The  governor  added  that  they  had  some  secret  reason 
for  demanding  their  weapons,  and  flattered  them¬ 
selves  that  French  troops  were  at  hand  to  support 
their  insolence.  In  conclusion,  they  were  told  that 
now  was  a  good  opportunity  to  prove  their  sincerity 
by  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance,  in  the  usual  form, 
before  the  Council.  They  replied  that  they  had  not 
made  up  their  minds  on  that  point,  and  could  do 
nothing  till  they  had  consulted  their  constituents. 
Being  reminded  that  the  oath  was  personal  to  them¬ 
selves,  and  that  six  years  had  already  been  given 
them  to  think  about  it,  they  asked  leave  to  retire  and 
confer  together.  This  was  granted,  and  at  the  end 
of  an  hour  they  came  back  with  the  same  answer  as 
before ;  whereupon  they  were  allowed  till  ten  o’clock 
on  the  next  morning  for  a  final  decision.1 

At  the  appointed  time  the  Council  again  met,  and 
the  deputies  were  brought  in.  They  persisted  stub¬ 
bornly  in  the  same  refusal.  “They  were  then  in¬ 
formed,”  says  the  record,  “that  the  Council  could  no 
longer  look  on  them  as  subjects  to  His  Britannic 

1  Minutes  of  Council  at  Halifax ,  3  July,  1755,  in  Public  Documents 
of  Nova  Scotia,  247-255. 


1755.] 


THEY  REFUSE  THE  OATH. 


273 


Majesty,  but  as  subjects  to  the  King  of  France,  and 
as  such  they  must  hereafter  be  treated;  and  they 
were  ordered  to  withdraw.”  A  discussion  followed 
in  the  Council.  It  was  determined  that  the  Acadians 
should  be  ordered  to  send  new  deputies  to  Halifax, 
who  should  answer  for  them,  once  for  all,  whether 
they  would  accept  the  oath  or  not;  that  such  as 
refused  it  should  not  thereafter  be  permitted  to  take 
it;  and  “that  effectual  measures  ought  to  be  taken 
to  remove  all  such  recusants  out  of  the  province.” 

The  deputies,  being  then  called  in  and  told  this 
decision,  became  alarmed,  and  offered  to  swear 
allegiance  in  the  terms  required.  The  answer  was 
that  it  was  too  late;  that  as  they  had  refused  the 
oath  under  persuasion,  they  could  not  be  trusted 
when  they  took  it  under  compulsion.  It  remained  to 
see  whether  the  people  at  large  would  profit  by  their 
example. 

“I  am  determined,”  wrote  Lawrence  to  the  Lords 
of  Trade,  “  to  bring  the  inhabitants  to  a  compliance, 
or  rid  the  province  of  such  perfidious  subjects.”1 
First,  in  answer  to  the  summons  of  the  Council,  the 
deputies  from  Annapolis  appeared,  declaring  that 
they  had  always  been  faithful  to  the  British  Crown, 
but  flatly  refusing  the  oath.  They  were  told  that, 
far  from  having  been  faithful  subjects,  they  had 
always  secretly  aided  the  Indians,  and  that  many  of 
them  had  been  in  arms  against  the  English ;  that  the 
French  were  threatening  the  province;  and  that  its 

i  Lawrence  to  Lords  of  Trade,  18  July,  1755. 

VOL.  I.  — 18 


274 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS. 


[1755. 


affairs  had  reached  a  crisis  when  its  inhabitants  must 
either  pledge  themselves  without  equivocation  to  be 
true  to  the  British  Crown,  or  else  must  leave  the 
country.  They  all  declared  that  they  would  lose 
their  lands  rather  than  take  the  oath.  The  Council 
urged  them  to  consider  the  matter  seriously,  warning 
them  that,  if  they  now  persisted  in  refusal,  no  farther 
choice  would  be  allowed  them ;  and  they  were  given 
till  ten  o’clock  on  the  following  Monday  to  make 
their  final  answer. 

When  that  day  came,  another  body  of  deputies  had 
arrived  from  Grand  Pr£  and  the  other  settlements  of 

"f 

the  Basin  of  Mines;  and  being  called  before  the 
Council,  both  they  and  the  former  deputation  abso¬ 
lutely  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance.  These 
two  bodies  represented  nine-tenths  of  the  Acadian 
population  within  the  peninsula.  “Nothing,”  pur¬ 
sues  the  record  of  the  Council,  “  now  remained  to  be 
considered  but  what  measures  should  be  taken  ,  to 
send  the  inhabitants  away,  and  where  they  should  be 
sent  to.”  If  they  were  sent  to  Canada,  Cape  Breton, 
or  the  neighboring  islands,  they  would  strengthen 
the  enemy,  and  still  threaten  the  province.  It  was 
^  therefore  resolved  to  distribute  them  among  the 
various  English  colonies,  and  to  hire  vessels  for  the 
purpose  with  all  despatch.1 


1  Minutes  of  Council ,  4  July-28  July ,  in  Public  Documents  of 
Nova  Scotia,  255-267.  Copies  of  these  and  other  parts  of  the  record 
were  sent  at  the  time  to  England,  and  are  now  in  the  Public  Record 
Office  along  with  the  letters  of  Lawrence. 


1755.] 


MOTIVES  OF  THEIR  CONDUCT. 


275 


The  oath,  the  refusal  of  which  had  brought  such 
consequences,  was  a  simple  pledge  of  fidelity  and 
allegiance  to  King  George  II.  and  his  successors. 
Many  of  the  Acadians  had  already  taken  an  oath  of 
fidelity,  though  with  the  omission  of  the  word  “  alle¬ 
giance,”  and,  as  they  insisted,  with  a  saving  clause 
exempting  them  from  bearing  arms.  The  effect  of 
this  was  that  they  did  not  regard  themselves  as 
British  subjects,  and  claimed,  falsely  as  regards  most 
of  them,  the  character  of  neutrals.  It  was  to  put  an 
end  to  this  anomalous  state  of  things  that  the  oath 
without  reserve  had  been  demanded  of  them.  Their 
rejection  of  it,  reiterated  in  full  view  of  the  conse¬ 
quences,  is  to  be  ascribed  partly  to  a  fixed  belief  that 
the  English  would  not  execute  their  threats,  partly 
to  ties  of  race  and  kin,  but  mainly  to  superstition. 
They  feared  to  take  part  with  heretics  against  the 
King  of  France,  whose  cause,  as  already  stated,  they 
had  been  taught  to  regard  as  one  with  the  cause  of 
God;  they  were  constrained  by  the  dread  of  perdi¬ 
tion.  “  If  the  Acadians  are  miserable,  remember 
that  the  priests  are  the  cause  of  it,”  writes  the 
French  officer  Boish^bert  to  the  missionary  Manach.1 

1  On  the  oath  and  its  history,  compare  a  long  note  by  Mr.  Akin 
in  Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia,  263-267.  Winslow  in  his  Jour¬ 
nal  gives  an  abstract  of  a  memorial  sent  him  by  the  Acadians,  in 
which  they  say  that  they  had  refused  the  oath,  and  so  forfeited 
their  lands,  from  motives  of  religion.  I  have  shown  in  a  former 
chapter  that  the  priests  had  been  the  chief  instruments  in  prevent¬ 
ing  them  from  accepting  the  English  government.  Add  the 
following :  — 

“Les  malheurg  des  Aecadiens  sont  beaucoup  moins  leur  ouvrage 


276 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIAKS.  [1755. 


The  Council  having  come  to  a  decision,  Lawrence 
acquainted  Monckton  with  the  result,  and  ordered 
him  to  seize  all  the  adult  males  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Beaus4jour ;  and  this,  as  we  have  seen,  he  promptly 
did.  It  remains  to  observe  how  the  rest  of  the 
sentence  was  carried  into  effect. 

Instructions  were  sent  to  Winslow  to  secure  the 
inhabitants  on  or  near  the  Basin  of  Mines  and  place 
them  on  board  transports,  which,  he  was  told,  would 
soon  arrive  from  Boston.  His  orders  were  stringent: 
“  If  you  find  that  fair  means  will  not  do  with  them, 
you  must  proceed  by  the  most  vigorous  measures 
possible,  not  only  in  compelling  them  to  embark,  but 
in  depriving  those  who  shall  escape  of  all  means  of 
shelter  or  support,  by  burning  their  houses  and  by 
destroying  everything  that  may  afford  them  the 
means  of  subsistence  in  the  country.”  Similar  orders 
were  given  to  Major  Handheld,  the  regular  officer  in 
command  at  Annapolis. 

que  le  fruit  des  sollicitations  et  des  demarches  des  missionnaires  ” 
—  Vaudreuil  au  Ministre ,  6  Mai,  1760. 

«  Si  nous  avons  la  guerre.,  et  si  les  Accadiens  sont  miserables, 
souvenez-vous  que  ce  sont  les  pretres  qui  en  sont  la  cause”  — 
Boishtbert  a  Manach,  21  Fevrier,  1760.  Both  these  writers  had  en¬ 
couraged  the  priests  in  their  intrigues  so  long  as  these  were  likely 
to  profit  the  French  government,  and  only  blamed  them  after  they 
failed  to  accomplish  what  was  expected  of  them. 

«  Nous  avons  six  missionnaires  dont  l’occupation  perpetuelle  est 
de  porter  les  esprits  au  fanatisme  et  h  la  vengeance.  .  .  .  Je  ne  puis 
supporter  dans  nos  pretres  ces  odieuses  declamations  qu’ils  font 
tous  les  jours  aux  sauvages :  ‘Les  Anglois  sont  les  ennemis  de 
Dieu,  les  compagnons  du  Diable/  ”  —  Pichon,  Lettres  et  Memoir es  pour 
servir  a  Vllistoire  du  Cap-Breton,  160,  161.  (La  Haye,  1760.) 


1755.] 


MISSION  OF  WINSLOW. 


277 


On  the  fourteenth  of  August  Winslow  set  out  from 
his  camp  at  Fort  Beaus^jour,  or  Cumberland,  on  his 
unenviable  errand.  He  had  with  him  but  two  hun¬ 
dred  and  ninety-seven  men.  His  mood  of  mind  was 
not  serene.  He  was  chafed  because  the  regulars  had 
charged  his  men  with  stealing  sheep;  and  he  was 
doubly  vexed  by  an  untoward  incident  that  happened 
on  the  morning  of  his  departure.  He  had  sent  for¬ 
ward  his  detachment  under  Adams,  the  senior  cap¬ 
tain,  and  they  were  marching  by  the  fort  with  drums 
beating  and  colors  flying,  when  Monckton  sent  out 
his  aide-de-camp  with  a  curt  demand  that  the  colors 
should  be  given  up,  on  the  ground  that  they  ought 
to  remain  with  the  regiment.  Whatever  the  sound¬ 
ness  of  the  reason,  there  was  no  courtesy  in  the 
manner  of  enforcing  it.  “  This  transaction  raised  my 
temper  some,”  writes  Winslow  in  his  Diary;  and  he 
proceeds  to  record  his  opinion  that  “it  is  the  most 
ungenteel,  ill-natured  thing  that  ever  I  saw.”  He 
sent  Monckton  a  quaintly  indignant  note,  in  which 
he  observed  that  the  affair  “looks  odd,  and  will 
appear  so  in  future  history;”  but  his  commander, 
reckless  of  the  judgments  of  posterity,  gave  him  little 
satisfaction. 

Thus  ruffled  in  spirit,  he  embarked  with  his  men 
and  sailed  down  Chignecto  Channel  to  the  Bay  of 
Fundy.  Here,  while  they  waited  the  turn  of  the 
tide  to  enter  the  Basin  of  Mines,  the  shores  of  Cum 
berland  lay  before  them  dim  in  the  hot  and  hazy  air, 
and  the  promontory  of  Cape  Split,  like  some  mis- 


shapen  inoiister  of  primeval  chaos,  stretched  its  por- 
'  tentous  length  along  the  glimmering  sea,  with  head 
of  yawning  rock,  and  ridgy  back  bristled  with  forests. 
Borne  on  the  rushing  flood,  they  soon  drifted  through 
the  inlet,  glided  under  the  rival  promontory  of  Cape 
Blomedon,  passed  the  red  sandstone  cliffs  of  Lyon’s 
Cove,  and  descried  the  mouths  of  the  rivers  Canard 
and  Des  Habitants,  where  fertile  marshes,  diked 
against  the  tide,  sustained  a  numerous  and  thriving 
population.  Before  them  spread  the  boundless 
meadows  of  Grand  Pffi,  waving  with  harvests  or 
alive  with  grazing  cattle;  the  green  slopes  behind 
were  dotted  with  the  simple  dwellings  of  the  Acadian 
farmers,  and  the  spire  of  the  village  church  rose 
against  a  background  of  woody  hills.  It  was  a 
l  peaceful,  rural  scene,  soon  to  become  one  of  the  most 
'  wretched  spots  on  earth.  Winslow  did  not  land  for 
the  present,  but  held  his  course  to  the  estuary  of  the 
river  Pisiquid,  since  called  the  Avon.  Here,  where 
the  town  of  Windsor  now  stands,  there  was  a  stock¬ 
ade  called  Fort  Edward,  where  a  garrison  of  regulars 
under  Captain  Alexander  Murray  kept  watch  over 
the  surrounding  settlements.  The  New  England 
men  pitched  their  tents  on  shore,  while  the  sloops 
that  had  brought  them  slept  on  the  soft  bed  of  tawny 

mud  left  by  the  fallen  tide. 

Winslow  found  a  warm  reception,  Tor  Murray  and 
his  officers  had  been  reduced  too  long  to  their  own 
society  not  to  welcome  the  coming  of  strangers.  The 
two  commanders  conferred  together.  Both  had  been. 


1755.] 


WINSLOW  AT  GRAND  PR& 


279 


ordered  by  Lawrence  to  “clear  the  whole  country  of 
such  bad  subjects;  ”  and  the  methods  of  doing  so  had 
been  outlined  for  their  guidance.  Having  come  to 
some  understanding  with  his  brother  officer  concern¬ 
ing  the  duties  imposed  on  both,  and  begun  an 
acquaintance  which  soon  grew  cordial  on  both  sides, 
Winslow  embarked  again  and  retraced  his  course  to 
Grand  Pffi,  the  station  which  the  governor  had 
assigned  him.  “  Am  pleased,”  he  wrote  to  Lawrence, 
“  with  the  place  proposed  by  your  Excellency  for  our 
reception  [i the  village  churcK].  I  have  sent  for  the 
elders  to  remove  all  sacred  things,  to  prevent  their 
being  defiled  by  heretics.”  The  church  was  used  as 
a  storehouse  and  place  of  arms ;  the  men  pitched  their 
tents  between  it  and  the  graveyard;  while  Winslow 
took  up  his  quarters  in  the  house  of  the  priest,  where 
he  could  look  from  his  window  on  a  tranquil  scene. 
Beyond  the  vast  tract  of  grassland  to  which  Grand 
Pffi  owed  its  name,  spread  the  blue  glistening  breast 
of  the  Basin  of  Mines ;  beyond  this  again,  the  distant 
mountains  of  Cobequid  basked  in  the  summer  sun; 
and  nearer,  on  the  left,  Cape  Blomedon  reared  its 
bluff  head  of  rock  and  forest  above  the  sleeping 
waves. 

As  the  men  of  the  settlement  greatly  outnumbered 
his  own,  Winslow  set  his  followers  to  surrounding 
the  camp  with  a  stockade.  Card-playing  was  for¬ 
bidden,  because  it  encouraged  idleness,  and  pitching 
quoits  in  camp,  because  it  spoiled  the  grass.  Pres¬ 
ently  there  came  a  letter  from  Lawrence  expressing  a 


280 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS.  [1755 

fear  that  the  fortifying  of  the  camp  might  alarm  the 
inhabitants.  To  which  Winslow  replied  that  the 
making  of  the  stockade  had  not  alarmed  them  in  the 
least,  since  they  took  it  as  a  proof  that  the  detach¬ 
ment  was  to  spend  the  winter  with  them;  and  he 
added,  that  as  the  harvest  was  not  yet  got  in,  he  and 
Murray  had  agreed  not  to  publish  the  governor’s 
commands  till  the  next  Friday.  He  concludes: 
“  Although  it  is  a  disagreeable  part  of  duty  we  are  put 
upon,  I  am  sensible  it  is  a  necessary  one,  and  shall 
endeavor  strictly  to  obey  your  Excellency’s  orders.” 

On  the  thirtieth,  Murray,  whose  post  was  not  many 
miles  distant,  made  him  a  visit.  They  agreed  that 
Winslow  should  summon  all  the  male  inhabitants 
about  Grand  Pre  to  meet  him  at  the  church  and  hear 
the  King’s  orders,  and  that  Murray  should  do  the 
same  for  those  around  Fort  Edward.  Winslow  then 
called  in  his  three  captains,  —  Adams,  Hobbs,  and 
Osgood,  —  made  them  swear  secrecy,  and  laid  before 
them  his  instructions  and  plans;  which  latter  they 
approved.  Murray  then  returned  to  his  post,  and  on 
the  next  day  sent  Winslow  a  note  containing  the 
following:  “I  think  the  sooner  we  strike  the  stroke 
the  better,  therefore  will  be  glad  to  see  you  here  as 
soon  as  conveniently  you  can.  I  shall  have  the 
orders  for  assembling  ready  written  for  your  approba¬ 
tion,  only  the  day  blank,  and  am  hopeful  everything 
will  succeed  according  to  our  wishes.  The  gentle¬ 
men  join  me  in  our  best  compliments  to  you  and  the 
Doctor.” 


1755.] 


THE  SUMMONS. 


281 


On  the  nePt  day,  Sunday,  Winslow  and  the  Doctor, 
whose  name  was  Whitworth,  made  the  tour  of  the 
neighborhood,  with  an  escort  of  fifty  men,  and  found 
a  great  quantity  of  wheat  still  on  the  fields.  On 
Tuesday  Winslow  “set  out  in  a  wThale-boat  with  Dr. 
Whitworth  and  Adjutant  Kennedy,  to  consult  with 
Captain  Murray  in  this  critical  conjuncture.”  They 
agreed  that  three  in  the  afternoon  of  Friday  should 
be  the  time  of  assembling;  then  between  them  they 
drew  up  a  summons  to  the  inhabitants,  and  got  one 
Beauchamp,  a  merchant,  to  “put  it  into  French.” 
It  ran  as  follows :  — 

By  John  Winslow,  Esquire,  Lieutenant-Colonel  and 
Commander  of  His  Majesty’s  troops  at  Grand  Pre,  Mines, 
River  Canard,  and  places  adjacent. 

To  the  inhabitants  of  the  districts  above  named,  as  well 
ancients  as  young  men  and  lads. 

Whereas  His  Excellency  the  Governor  has  instructed 
us  of  his  last  resolution  respecting  the  matters  proposed 
lately  to  the  inhabitants,  and  has  ordered  us  to  communi¬ 
cate  the  same  to  the  inhabitants  in  general  in  person,  His 
Excellency  being  desirous  that  each  of  them  should  be 
fully  satisfied  of  His  Majesty’s  intentions,  which  he  has 
also  ordered  us  to  communicate  to  you,  such  as  they  have 
been  given  him. 

We  therefore  order  and  strictly  enjoin  by  these  presents 
to  all  the  inhabitants,  as  well  of  the  above-named  districts 
as  of  all  the  other  districts,  both  old  men  and  young  men, 
as  well  as  all  the  lads  of  ten  years  of  age,  to  attend  at  the 
church  in  Grand  Pre  on  Friday,  the  fifth  instant,  at  three 
of  the  clock  in  the  afternoon,  that  we  may  impart  what  we 
are  ordered  to  communicate  to  them;  declaring  that  no 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS. 


282 


[1755. 


excuse  will  be  admitted  on  any  pretence  \  hatsoever,  on 
pain  of  forfeiting  goods  and  chattels  in  default. 

Given  at  Grand  Pre,  the  second  of  September,  in  the 
twenty-ninth  year  of  His  Majesty’s  reign,  a.d.  1755. 

A  similar  summons  was  drawn  up  in  the  name  of 
Murray  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  district  of  Fort 
Edward. 

Captain  Adams  made  a  reconnoissance  of  the  rivers 
Canard  and  Des  Habitants,  and  reported  “a  fine 
country  and  full  of  inhabitants,  a  beautiful  church, 
and  abundance  of  the  goods  of  the  world.”  Another 
reconnoissance  by  Captains  Hobbs  and  Osgood  among 
the  settlements  behind  Grand  Prd  brought  reports 
equally  favorable.  On  the  fourth,  another  letter 
came  from  Murray :  “  All  the  people  quiet,  and  very 
busy  at  their  harvest;  if  this  day  keeps  fair,  all  will 
be  in  here  in  their  barns.  I  hope  to-morrow  will 
crown  all  our  wishes.”  The  Acadians,  like  the  bees, 
were  to  gather  a  harvest  for  others  to  enjoy.  The 
summons  was  sent  out  that  afternoon.  Powder  and 
ball  were  served  to  the  men,  and  all  were  ordered  to 
keep  within  the  lines. 

On  the  next  day  the  inhabitants  appeared  at  the 
hour  appointed,  to  the  number  of  four  hundred  and 
eighteen  men.  Winslow  ordered  a  table  to  be  set  in 
the  middle  of  the  church,  and  placed  on  it  his 
instructions  and  the  address  he  had  prepared.  Here 
he  took  his  stand  in  his  laced  uniform,  with  one  or 
two  subalterns  from  the  regulars  at  Fort  Edward, 
and  such  of  the  Massachusetts  officers  as  were  not  on 


1755.]  SCENE  IN  THE  CHURCH.  283 

guard  duty;  strong,  sinewy  figures,  bearing,  no 
doubt,  more  or  less  distinctly,  the  peculiar  stamp 
with  which  toil,  trade,  and  Puritanism  had  imprinted 
the  features  of  New  England.  Their  commander 
was  not  of  the  prevailing  type.  He  was  fifty- three 
years  of  age,  with  double  chin,  smooth  forehead, 
arched  eyebrows,  close  powdered  wig,  and  round, 
rubicund  face,  from  which  the  weight  of  an  odious 
duty  had  probably  banished  the  smirk  of  self-satis¬ 
faction  that  dwelt  there  at  other  times.1  Neverthe¬ 
less,  he  had  manly  and  estimable  qualities.  The 
congregation  of  peasants,  clad  in  rough  homespun, 
turned  their  sunburned  faces  upon  him,  anxious  and 
intent;  and  Winslow  “delivered  them  by  interpret¬ 
ers  the  King’s  orders  in  the  following  words,”  which, 
retouched  in  orthography  and  syntax,  ran  thus :  — 

Gentlemen,  —  I  have  received  from  His  Excellency, 
Governor  Lawrence,  the  King’s  instructions,  which  I  have 
in  my  hand.  By  his  orders  you  are  called  together  to 
hear  His  Majesty’s  final  resolution  concerning  the  Trench 
inhabitants  of  this  his  province  of  Nova  Scotia,  who  for 
almost  half  a  century  have  had  more  indulgence  granted 
them  than  any  of  his  subjects  in  any  part  of  his  dominions. 

*  What  use  you  have  made  of  it  you  yourselves  best  know. 

The  duty  I  am  now  upon,  though  necessary,  is  very  disa¬ 
greeable  to  my  natural  make  and  temper,  as  I  know  it  must 
be  grievous  to  you,  wko  are  of  the  same  species.  But  it 
is  not  my  business  to  animadvert  on  the  orders  I  have 
received,  but  to  obey  them ;  and  therefore  without  hesita- 

i  See  his  portrait,  at  the  rooms  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society. 


284 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS. 


[1755. 


tion  I  shall  deliver  to  you  His  Majesty’s  instructions  and 
commands,  which  are  that  your  lands  and  tenements  and 
cattle  and  live-stock  of  all  kinds  are  forfeited  to  the  Crown, 
with  all  your  other  effects,  except  money  and  household 
goods,  and  that  you  yourselves  are  to  be  removed  from 
this  his  province. 

The  peremptory  orders  of  His  Majesty  are  that  all  the 
French  inhabitants  of  these  districts  he  removed;  and 
through  His  Majesty’s  goodness  I  am  directed  to  allow 
you  the  liberty  of  carrying  with  you  your  money  and  as 
many  of  your  household  goods  as  you  can  take  without 
overloading  the  vessels  you  go  in.  I  shall  do  everything 
in  my  power  that  all  these  goods  he  secured  to  you,  and 
that  you  be  not  molested  in  carrying  them  away,  and  also 
that  whole  families  shall  go  in  the  same  vessel ;  so  that 
this  removal,  which  I  am  sensible  must  give  you  a  great 
deal  of  trouble,  may  be  made  as  easy  as  His  Majesty’s 
service  will  admit;  and  I  hope  that  in  whatever  part  of 
the  world  your  lot  may  fall,  you  may  be  faithful  subjects, 
and  a  peaceable  and  happy  people. 

I  must  also  inform  you  that  it  is  His  Majesty’s  pleasure 
that  you  remain  in  security  under  the  inspection  and  direc¬ 
tion  of  the  troops  that  I  have  the  honor  to  command. 


He  then  declared  them  prisoners  of  the  King. 
“They  were  greatly  struck,”  he  says,  “at  this  deter¬ 
mination,  though  I  believe  they  did  not  imagine  that 
they  were  actually  to  be  removed.”  After  delivering 
the  address,  he  returned  to  his  quarters  at  the  priest’s 
house,  whither  he  was  followed  by  some  of  the  elder 
prisoners,  who  begged  leave  to  tell  their  families 
what  had  happened,  “since  they  were  fearful  that 
the  surprise  of  their  detention  would  quite  overcome 


1755.] 


AN  ENGLISH  REVERSE. 


285 


them.”  Winslow  consulted  with  his  officers,  and  it 
was  arranged  that  the  Acadians  should  choose  twenty 
of  their  number  each  day  to  revisit  their  homes,  the 
rest  being  held  answerable  for  their  return. 

A  letter,  dated  some  days  before,  now  came  from 
Major  Handheld  at  Annapolis,  saying  that  he  had 
tried  to  secure  the  men  of  that  neighborhood,  but 
that  many  of  them  had  escaped  to  the  woods. 
Murray’s  report  from  Fort  Edward  came  soon  after, 
and  was  more  favorable:  “I  have  succeeded  finely, 
and  have  got  a  hundred  and  eighty-three  men  into 
my  possession.”  To  which  Winslow  replies:  “I 
have  the  favor  of  yours  of  this  day,  and  rejoice  at 
your  success,  and  also  for  the  smiles  that  have  attended 
the  party  here.”  But  he  adds  mournfully:  “Things 
are  now  very  heavy  on  my  heart  and  hands.”  The 
prisoners  were  lodged  in  the  church,  and  notice  was 
sent  to  their  families  to  bring  them  food.  “Thus,” 
says  the  Diary  of  the  commander,  “  ended  the  memo¬ 
rable  fifth  of  September,  a  day  of  great  fatigue  and 
trouble.” 

There  was  one  quarter  where  fortune  did  not 
always  smile.  Major  Jedediah  Preble,  of  Winslow’s 
battalion,  wrote  to  him  that  Major  Frye  had  just 
returned  from  Chipody,  whither  he  had  gone  with  a 
party  of  men  to  destroy  the  settlements  and  bring  off 
the  women  and  children.  After  burning  two  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty-three  buildings  he  had  re-embarked, 
leaving  fifty  men  on  shore  at  a  place  called  Peticodiac 
to  give  a  finishing  stroke  to  the  work  by  burning  the 


286 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIAN'S.  [175& 


“Mass  House,”  or  church.  While  thus  engaged, 
they  were  set  upon  by  three  hundred  Indians  and 
Acadians,  led  by  the  partisan  officer  Boish^bert. 
More  than  half  their  number  were  killed,  wounded, 
or  taken.  The  rest  ensconced  themselves  behind  the 
neighboring  dikes,  and  Frye,  hastily  landing  with 
the  rest  of  his  men,  engaged  the  assailants  for  three 
hours,  but  was  forced  at  last  to  re-embark.1  Captain 
Speakman,  who  took  part  in  the  affair,  also  sent 
Winslow  an  account  of  it,  and  added:  “The  people 
here  are  much  concerned  for  fear  your  party  should 
meet  with  the  same  fate  (being  in  the  heart  of  a 
numerous  devilish  crew),  which  I  pray  God  avert.” 

Winslow  had  indeed  some  cause  for  anxiety.  He 
had  captured  more  Acadians  since  the  fifth;  and  had 
now  in  charge  nearly  five  hundred  able-bodied  men, 
with  scarcely  three  hundred  to  guard  them.  As  they 
were  allowed  daily  exercise  in  the  open  air,  they 
might  by  a  sudden  rush  get  possession  of  arms  and 
make  serious  trouble.  On  the  Wednesday  after  the 
scene  in  the  church  some  unusual  movements  were 
observed  among  them,  and  Winslow  and  his  officers 
became  convinced  that  they  could  not  safely  be  kept 
in  one  body.  Five  vessels,  lately  arrived  from 
Boston,  were  lying  within  the  mouth  of  the  neigh¬ 
boring  river.  It  was  resolved  to  place  fifty  of  the 
prisoners  on  board  each  of  these,  and  keep  them 

1  Also  Boishebert  h  Drucour,  10  Octobre ,  1755,  an  exaggerated 
account.  Vaudreuil  au  Ministre,  18  Octobre ,  1755,  sets  Boishebert’s 
force  at  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  men. 


1755.]  A  MEASURE  OF  PRECAUTION.  287 

anchored  in  the  Basin.  The  soldiers  were  all  ordered 
under  arms,  and  posted  on  an  open  space  beside  the 
church  and  behind  the  priest’s  house.  The  prisoners 
were  then  drawn  up  before  them,  ranked  six  deep,  — 
the  young  unmarried  men,  as  the  most  dangerous, 
being  told  off  and  placed  on  the  left,  to  the  number 
of  a  hundred  and  forty-one.  Captain  Adams,  with 
eighty  men,  was  then  ordered  to  guard  them  to  the 
vessels.  Though  the  object  of  the  movement  had 
been  explained  to  them,  they  were  possessed  with  the 
idea  that  they  were  to  be  torn  from  their  families  and 
sent  away  at  once ;  and  they  all,  in  great  excitement, 
refused  to  go.  Winslow  told  them  that  there  must 
be  no  parley  or  delay;  and  as  they  still  refused,  a 
squad  of  soldiers  advanced  towards  them  with  fixed 
bayonets ;  while  he  himself,  laying  hold  of  the  fore¬ 
most  young  man,  commanded  him  to  move  forward. 
“He  obeyed;  and  the  rest  followed,  though  slowly, 
and  went  off  praying,  singing,  and  crying,  being  met 
by  the  women  and  children  all  the  way  (which  is  a 
mile  and  a  half)  with  great  lamentation,  upon  their 
knees,  praying.”  When  the  escort  returned,  about  a 
hundred  of  the  married  men  were  ordered  to  follow 
the  first  party;  and,  “the  ice  being  broken,”  they 
readily  complied.  The  vessels  were  anchored  at  a 
little  distance  from  shore,  and  six  soldiers  were  placed 
on  board  each  of  them  as  a  guard.  The  prisoners 
were  offered  the  King’s  rations,  but  preferred  to  be 
supplied  by  their  families,  who,  it  was  arranged, 
should  go  in  boats  to  visit  them  every  day;  “and 


288 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS.  [1755. 

thus,”  says  Winslow,  “ended  this  troublesome  job.” 
He  was  not  given  to  effusions  of  feeling,  but  he 
wrote  to  Major  Handheld:  “This  affair  is  more 
grievous  to  me  than  any  service  I  was  ever  employed 
in.”1 

Murray  sent  him  a  note  of  congratulation :  “  I  am 
extremely  pleased  that  things  are  so  clever  at  Grand 
Prd,  and  that  the  poor  devils  are  so  resigned.  Here 
they  are  more  patient  than  I  could  have  expected  for 
people  in  their  circumstances;  and  what  surprises 
me  still  more  is  the  indifference  of  the  women,  who 
really  are,  or  seem,  quite  unconcerned.  I  long  much 
to  see  the  poor  wretches  embarked  and  our  affair  a 
little  settled ;  and  then  I  will  do  myself  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  you  and  drinking  their  good  voyage.” 

This  agreeable  consummation  was  still  distant. 
There  was  a  long  and  painful  delay.  The  provisions 
for  the  vessels  which  were  to  carry  the  prisoners  did 
not  come ;  nor  did  the  vessels  themselves,  excepting 
the  five  already  at  Grand  Prd.  In  vain  Winslow 
wrote  urgent  letters  to  George  Saul,  the  commissary, 
to  bring  the  supplies  at  once.  Murray,  at  Fort 
Edward,  though  with  less  feeling  than  his  brother 
officer,  was  quite  as  impatient  of  the  burden  of 
suffering  humanity  on  his  hands.  “I  am  amazed 
what  can  keep  the  transports  and  Saul.  Surely  our 

1  Haliburton,  who  knew  Winslow’s  Journal  only  by  imperfect 
extracts,  erroneously  states  that  the  men  put  on  board  the  vessels 
were  sent  away  immediately.  They  remained  at  Grand  Pre  several 
weeks,  and  were  then  sent  off  at  intervals  with  their  families. 


\ 


I 


1755.] 


EMBARKATION. 


289 


friend  at  Chignecto  is  willing  to  give  us  as  much  of 
our  neighbors’  company  as  he  well  can.” 1  Saul  came 
at  last  with  a  shipload  of  provisions ;  but  the  lagging 
transports  did  not  appear.  Winslow  grew  heartsick 
at  the  daily  sight  of  miseries  which  he  himself  had 
occasioned,  and  wrote  to  a  friend  at  Halifax:  “I 
know  they  deserve  all  and  more  than  they  feel;  yet 
it  hurts  me  to  hear  their  weeping  and  wailing  and 
gnashing  of  teeth.  I  am  in  hopes  our  affairs  will 
soon  put  on  another  face,  and  we  get  transports,  and 
I  rid  of  the  worst  piece  of  service  that  ever  I  was  in.” 

After  weeks  of  delay,  seven  transports  came  from 
Annapolis;  and  Winslow  sent  three  of  them  to 
Murray,  who  joyfully  responded :  “  Thank  God,  the 
transports  are  come  at  last.  So  soon  as  I  have 
shipped  off  my  rascals,  I  will  come  down  and  settle 
matters  with  you,  and  enjoy  ourselves  a  little.” 

Winslow  prepared  for  the  embarkation.  The 
Acadian  prisoners  and  their  families  were  divided 
into  groups  answering  to  their  several  villages,  in 
order  that  those  of  the  same  village  might,  as  far  as 
possible,  go  in  the  same  vessel.  It  was  also  provided 
that  the  members  of  each  family  should  remain 
together;  and  notice  was  given  them  to  hold  them¬ 
selves  in  readiness.  “But  even  now,”  he  writes,  “I 
could  not  persuade  the  people  I  was  in  earnest.” 
Their  doubts  were  soon  ended.  The  first  embarka¬ 
tion  took  place  on  the  eighth  of  October,  under  which 
date  the  Diary  contains  this  entry :  “  Began  to  embark 

1  Murray  to  Winslow ,  20  September ,  1755. 

VOL.  i.  — 19 


[1755. 


"V t? 

290  REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS. 

the  inhabitants,  who  went  off  very  solentarily  [sic] 
and  unwillingly,  the  women  in  great  distress,  carry¬ 
ing  off  their  children  in  their  arms ;  others  carrying 
their  decrepit  parents  in  their  carts,  with  all  their 
goods;  moving  in  great  confusion,  and  appeared  a 
scene  of  woe  and  distress.”1 

Though  a  large  number  were  embarked  on  this 
occasion,  still  more  remained;  and  as  the  transports 
slowly  arrived,  the  dismal  scene  was  repeated  at 
intervals,  with  more  order  than  at  first,  as  the  Aca- 
dians  had  learned  to  accept  their  fate  as  a  certainty. 
So  far  as  Winslow  was  concerned,  their  treatment 
seems  to  have  been  as  humane  as  was  possible  under 
the  circumstances ;  but  they  complained  of  the  men, 
who  disliked  and  despised  them.  One  soldier  received 
thirty  lashes  for  stealing  fowls  from  them;  and  an 
order  was  issued  forbidding  soldiers  or  sailors,  on 
pain  of  summary  punishment,  to  leave  their  quarters 
without  permission,  “  that  an  end  may  be  put  to 
distressing  this  distressed  people.”  Two  of  the  pris¬ 
oners,  however,  while  trying  to  escape,  were  shot  by 
a  reconnoitring  party. 

a 

At  the  beginning  of  November  Winslow  reported 
that  he  had  sent  off  fifteen  hundred  and  ten  persons, 
in  nine  vessels,  and  that  more  than  six  hundred  still 
remained  in  his  district.2  The  last  of  these  were  not 
embarked  till  late  in  December.  Murray  finished 

1  In  spite  of  Winslow’s  care,  some  cases  of  separation  of  fami¬ 
lies  occurred  ;  but  they  were  not  numerous. 

2  Winslow  to  Monckton,  8  November ,  1755. 


1755.] 


CONJUGAL  DEVOTION. 


291 


his  part  of  the  work  at  the  end  of  October,  having 
sent  from  the  district  of  Fort  Edward  eleven  hundred 
persons  in  four  frightfully  crowded  transports.1  At 
the  close  of  that  month  sixteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  had  been  sent  from  the  district  of  Annapolis, 
where  many  others  escaped  to  the  woods.2  A 
detachment  which  was  ordered  to  seize  the  inhabit¬ 
ants  of  the  district  of  Cobequid  failed  entirely,  find¬ 
ing  the  settlements  abandoned.  In  the  country 
about  Fort  Cumberland,  Monckton,  who  directed  the 
operation  in  person,  had  very  indifferent  success, 
catching  in  all  but  little  more  than  a  thousand.3  Le 
Guerne,  missionary  priest  in  this  neighborhood,  gives 
a  characteristic  and  affecting  incident  of  the  embarka¬ 
tion.  “Many  unhappy  women,  carried  away  by 
excessive  attachment  to  their  husbands,  whom  they 
had  been  allowed  to  see  too  often,  and  closing  their 
ears  to  the  voice  of  religion  and  their  missionary, 
threw  themselves  blindly  and  despairingly  into  the 
English  vessels.  And  now  was  seen  the  saddest  of 
spectacles;  for  some  of  these  women,  solely  from  a 
religious  motive,  refused  to  take  with  them  their 
grown-up  sons  and  daughters.” 4  They  would  expose 
their  own  souls  to  perdition  among  heretics,  but  not 
those  of  their  children. 

When  all,  or  nearly  all,  had  been  sent  off  from  the 

1  Winslow  to  Monckton,  3  November,  1755. 

2  Captain  Adams  to  Winslow,  29  November,  1755 ;  see  also  Knox 
i.  85,  who  exactly  confirms  Adams’s  figures. 

3  Monckton  to  Winslow,  7  October,  1755. 

4  Le  Guerne  a  Prdvost,  10  Mars,  1756. 


292 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS. 


[1755. 


various  points  of  departure,  such  of  the  houses  and 
barns  as  remained  standing  were  burned,  in  obedience 
to  the  orders  of  Lawrence,  that  those  who  had  escaped 
might  be  forced  to  come  in  and  surrender  themselves. 
The  whole  number  removed  from  the  province,  men, 
women,  and  children,  was  a  little  above  six  thousand. 
Many  remained  behind;  and  while  some  of  these 
withdrew  to  Canada,  Isle  St.  Jean,  and  other  dis¬ 
tant  retreats,  the  rest  lurked  in  the  woods  or  re¬ 
turned  to  their  old  haunts,  whence  they  waged,  for 
several  years,  a  guerilla  warfare  against  the  Eng¬ 
lish.  Yet  their  strength  was  broken,  and  they  were 
no  longer  a  danger  to  the  province. 

Of  their  exiled  countrymen,  one  party  overpowered 
the  crew  of  the  vessel  that  carried  them,  ran  her 
ashore  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John,  and  escaped.1 
The  rest  were  distributed  among  the  colonies  from 
Massachusetts  to  Georgia,  the  master  of  each  trans¬ 
port  having  been  provided  with  a  letter  from  Lawrence 
addressed  to  the  governor  of  the  province  to  which 
he  was  bound,  and  desiring  him  to  receive  the 
unwelcome  strangers.  The  provincials  were  vexed 
at  the  burden  imposed  upon  them;  and  though  the 
Acadians  were  not  in  general  ill-treated,  their  lot 
was  a  hard  one.  Still  more  so  was  that  of  those 
among  them  who  escaped  to  Canada.  The  chronicle 
of  the  Ursulines  of  Quebec,  speaking  of  these  last, 
says  that  their  misery  was  indescribable,  and  at- 

1  Lettre  commune  de  Drucour  et  Prevost  an  Ministre,  6  Avril,  1756, 
Vaudreuil  an  Ministre,  1  Juin,  1756. 


1755.] 


THEIR  FATE. 


293 


tributes  it  to  the  poverty  of  the  colony.  But  there 
were  other  causes.  The  exiles  found  less  pity  from 
kindred  and  fellow-Catholics  than  from  the  heretics 
of  the  English  colonies.  Some  of  them  who  had 
made  their  way  to  Canada  from  Boston,  whither 
they  had  been  transported,  sent  word  to  a  gentleman 
of  that  place  who  had  befriended  them  that  they 
wished  to  return.1  Bougainville,  the  celebrated 
navigator,  then  aide-de-camp  to  Montcalm,  says 
concerning  them:  “They  are  dying  by  wholesale. 
Their  past  and  present  misery,  joined  to  the  rapacity 
of  the  Canadians,  who  seek  only  to  squeeze  out  of 
them  all  the  money  they  can,  and  then  refuse  them 
the  help  so  dearly  bought,  are  the  cause  of  this 
mortality.”  “A  citizen  of  Quebec,”  he  says  farther 
on,  “  was  in  debt  to  one  of  the  partners  of  the  Great 
Company  [ Government  officials  leagued  for  plunder]. 
He  had  no  means  of  paying.  They  gave  him  a  great 
number  of  Acadians  to  board  and  lodge.  He  starved 
them  with  hunger  and  cold,  got  out  of  them  what 
money  they  had,  and  paid  the  extortioner.  Quel 
pays  !  Quels  mceurs  /  ”  2 

Many  of  the  exiles  eventually  reached  Louisiana,  / 
where  their  descendants  now  form  a  numerous  and 
distinct  population.  Some,  after  incredible  hardship, 
made  their  way  back  to  Acadia,  where,  after  the 
peace,  they  remained  unmolested,  and,  with  those 

1  Hutchinson,  Hist.  Mass.,  iii.  42,  note. 

2  Bougainville,  Journal,  1756-1758.  His  statements  are  sustained 
by  M€moires  sur  le  Canada ,  1749-1760. 


294  REMOVAL  OF  THE  ACADIANS.  [1755. 

who  had  escaped  seizure,  became  the  progenitors  of 
the  present  Acadians,  now  settled  in  various  parts  of 


on  the  upper  St.  John,  and  at  Clare,  in  Nova  Scotia. 
Others  were  sent  from  Virginia  to  England;  and 
others  again,  after  the  complete  conquest  of  the 


In  one  particular  the  authors  of  the  deportation 
were  disappointed  in  its  results.  They  had  hoped  to 
substitute  a  loyal  population  for  a  disaffected  one; 


they  were  offered,  would  not  stay  in  the  province; 
and  it  was  not  till  five  years  later  that  families  of 
British  stock  began  to  occupy  the  waste  fields  of  the 
Acadians.  This  goes  far  to  show  that  a  longing  to 
become  their  heirs  had  not,  as  has  been  alleged,  any 
considerable  part  in  the  motives  for  their  removal. 

New  England  humanitarianism,  melting  into  sen¬ 
timentality  at  a  tale  of  woe,  has  been  unjust  to  its 
own.  Whatever  judgment  may  be  passed  on  the 
cruel  measure  of  wholesale  expatriation,  it  was  not 
put  in  execution  till  every  resource  of  patience  and 
persuasion  had  been  tried  in  vain.  The  agents  of  the 
French  court,  civil,  military,  and  ecclesiastical,  had 
made  some  act  of  force  a  necessity.  We  have  seen 
by  what  vile  practices  they  produced  in  Acadia  a 
state  of  things  intolerable,  and  impossible  of  con- 

finnanno  nmimrorl  foryvnoof  •  a*nrJ  xrrVw^n 


1755.] 


THEIR  FATE. 


295 


gave  no  help.  The  government  of  Louis  XV.  began 
with  making  the  Acadians  its  tools,  and  ended  with 
making  them  its  victims.1 

1  It  may  not  be  remembered  that  the  predecessor  of  Louis  XV., 
without  the  slightest  provocation  or  the  pretence  of  any,  gave 
orders  that  the  whole  Protestant  population  of  the  colony  of  New 
York,  amounting  to  about  eighteen  thousand,  should  be  seized, 
despoiled  of  their  property,  placed  on  board  his  ships,  and  dis¬ 
persed  among  the  other  British  colonies  in  such  a  way  that  they 
could  not  reunite.  Want  of  power  alone  prevented  the  execution 
of  the  order.  See  “Frontenac  and  New  France  under  Louis  XIV./' 
i.  198,  199. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1755. 


DIESKAU. 

Expedition  against  Crown  Point.  —  William  Johnson. _ Vau- 

DREUIL. - DlESKAU. — JOHNSON  AND  THE  INDIANS.  —  The  PRO¬ 

VINCIAL  Army.  —  Doubts  and  Delays. — March  to  Lake 
George.  —  Sunday  in  Camp.  —  Advance  of  Dieskau:  he 
changes  Plan.  —  Marches  against  Johnson.  —  Ambush.— 
Pout  of  Provincials.  —  Battle  of  Lake  George.  — Rout 
of  the  French.  —  Rage  of  the  Mohawks.  —  Peril  of  Dies- 
K^u.  Inaction  of  Johnson.  —  The  Homeward  March. — 
Laurels  of  Victory. 

The  next  stroke  of  the  campaign  was  to  be  the 
capture  of  Crown  Point,  that  dangerous  neighbor 
which,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  had  threatened  the 
northern  colonies.  Shirley,  in  January,  had  proposed 
an  attack  on  it  to  the  ministry;  and  in  February, 
without  waiting  their  reply,  he  laid  the  plan  before 
his  Assembly.  They  accepted,  it,  and  voted  money 
for  the  pay  and  maintenance  of  twelve  hundred  men, 
provided  the  adjacent  colonies  would  contribute  in 
due  proportion.1  Massachusetts  showed  a  military 

1  Governor  Shirley's  Message  to  his  Assembly,  13  February,  1755. 
Resolutions  of  the  Assembly  of  Massachusetts ,  18  February,  1755.  Shir¬ 
ley’s  original  idea  was  to  build  a  fort  on  a  rising  ground  near 
Crown  Point,  in  order  to  command  it.  This  was  soon  abandoned 
for  the  more  honest  and  more  practical  plan  of  direct  attack. 


1755.]  EXPEDITION  AGAINST  CROWN  POINT.  297 


activity  worthy  of  the  reputation  she  had  won. 
Forty-five  hundred  of  her  men,  or  one  in  eight  of  her 
adult  males,  volunteered  to  fight  the  French,  and 
enlisted  for  the  various  expeditions,  some  in  the  pay 
of  the  province,  and  some  in  that  of  the  King.1  It 
remained  to  name  a  commander  for  the  Crown  Point 
enterprise.  Nobody  had  power  to  do  so,  for  Brad- 
dock  was  not  yet  come ;  but  that  time  might  not  be 
lost,  Shirley,  at  the  request  of  his  Assembly,  took 
the  responsibility  on  himself.  If  he  had  named  a 
Massachusetts  officer,  it  would  have  roused  the  jealousy 
of  the  other  New  England  colonies;  and  he  therefore 
appointed  William  Johnson  of  New  York,  thus 
gratifying  that  important  province  and  pleasing  the 
Five  Nations,  who  at  this  time  looked  on  Johnson 
with  even  more  than  usual  favor.  Hereupon,  in 
reply  to  his  request,  Connecticut  voted  twelve  hun¬ 
dred  men,  New  Hampshire  five  hundred,  and  Rhode 
Island  four  hundred,  all  at  their  own  charge ;  while 
New  York,  a  little  later,  promised  eight  hundred 
more.  When,  in  April,  Braddock  and  the  Council 
at  Alexandria  approved  the  plan  and  the  commander, 
Shirley  gave  Johnson  the  commission  of  major-general 
of  the  levies  of  Massachusetts ;  and  the  governors  of 
the  other  provinces  contributing  to  the  expedition 
gave  him  similar  commissions  for  their  respective 
contingents.  Never  did  general  take  the  field  with 
authority  so  heterogeneous. 

1  Correspondence  of  Shirley,  February,  1755.  The  number  was 
much  increased  later  in  the  season. 


298 


DIESKAU. 


[1755. 


He  had  never  seen  service,  and  knew  nothing  of 
war.  By  birth  he  was  Irish,  of  good  family,  being 
nephew  of  Admiral  Sir  Peter  Warren,  who,  owning 
extensive  wild  lands  on  the  Mohawk,  had  placed  the 
young  man  in  charge  of  them  nearly  twenty  years 
before.  Johnson  was  born  to  prosper.  He  had 
ambition,  energy,  an  active  mind,  a  tall,  strong 
person,  a  rough,  jovial  temper,  and  a  quick  adapta¬ 
tion  to  his  surroundings.  He  could  drink  flip  with 
Dutch  boors,  or  Madeira  with  royal  governors.  He 
liked  the  society  of  the  great,  would  intrigue  and 
flatter  when  he  had  an  end  to  gain,  and  foil  a  rival 
without  looking  too  closely  at  the  means ;  but  com¬ 
pared  with  the  Indian  traders  who  infested  the  border, 
he  was  a  model  of  uprightness.  He  lived  by  the 
Mohawk  in  a  fortified  house  which  was  a  stronghold 
against  foes  and  a  scene  of  hospitality  to  friends, 
both  white  and  red.  Here  —  for  his  tastes  were  not 
fastidious  —  presided  for  many  years  a  Dutch  or 
German  wench  whom  he  finally  married;  and  after 
her  death  a  young  Mohawk  squaw  took  her  place. 
Over  his  neighbors,  the  Indians  of  the  Five  Nations, 
and  all  others  of  their  race  with  whom  he  had  to 
deal,  he  acquired  a  remarkable  influence.  He  liked 
them,  adopted  their  ways,  and  treated  them  kindly 
or  sternly  as  the  case  required,  but  always  with  a 
justice  and  honesty  in  strong  contrast  with  the  ras¬ 
calities  of  the  commission  of  Albany  traders  who  had 
lately  managed  their  affairs,  and  whom  they  so 
detested  that  one  of  their  chiefs  called  them  “not 


1755.] 


WILLIAM  JOHNSON. 


299 


«ien,  but  devils.”  Hence,  when  Johnson  was  made 
Indian  superintendent  there  was  joy  through  all  the 
Iroquois  confederacy.  When,  in  addition,  he  was 
made  a  general,  he  assembled  the  warriors  in  council 
to  engage  them  to  aid  the  expedition. 

This  meeting  took  place  at  his  own  house,  known 
as  Fort  Johnson;  and  as  more  than  eleven  hundred 
Indians  appeared  at  his  call,  his  larder  was  sorely 
taxed  to  entertain  them.  The  speeches  were  intermi¬ 
nable.  Johnson,  a  master  of  Indian  rhetoric,  knew 
his  audience  too  well  not  to  contest  with  them  the 
palm  of  insufferable  prolixity.  The  climax  was 
reached  on  the  fourth  day,  and  he  threw  down  the 
war-belt.  An  Oneida  chief  took  it  up;  Stevens,  the 
interpreter,  began  the  war-dance,  and  the  assembled 
warriors  howled  in  chorus.  Then  a  tub  of  punch 
was  brought  in,  and  they  all  drank  the  King’s 
health.1  They  showed  less  alacrity,  however,  to 
fight  his  battles,  and  scarcely  three  hundred  of  them 
would  take  the  war-path.  Too  many  of  their  friends 
and  relatives  were  enlisted  for  the  French. 

While  the  British  colonists  were  preparing  to 
attack  Crown  Point,  the  French  of  Canada  were 
preparing  to  defend  it.  Duquesne,  recalled  from  his 
post,  had  resigned  the  government  to  the  Marquis  de 
Vaudreuil,  who  had  at  his  disposal  the  battalions  of 
regulars  that  had  sailed  in  the  spring  from  Brest 
under  Baron  Dieskau.  His  first  thought  was  to  use 

1  Report  of  Conference  between  Major-General  Johnson  and  the 
Indians,  June,  1755. 


800 


DIESKAU. 


[1755. 


them  for  the  capture  of  Oswego;  but  the  letters  of 
Braddock,  found  on  the  battle-field,  warned  him  of 
the  design  against  Crown  Point;  while  a  reconnoitring 
party  which  had  gone  as  far  as  the  Hudson  brought 
back  news  that  Johnson’s  forces  were  already  in  the 
field.  Therefore  the  plan  was  changed,  and  Dieskau 
was  ordered  to  lead  the  main  body  of  his  troops,  not 
to  Lake  Ontario,  but  to  Lake  Champlain.  He  passed 
up  the  Richelieu,  and  embarked  in  boats  and  canoes 
for  Crown  Point.  The  veteran  knew  that  the  foes 
with  whom  he  had  to  deal  were  but  a  mob  of  country¬ 
men.  He  doubted  not  of  putting  them  to  rout,  and 
meant  never  to  hold  his  hand  till  he  had  chased  them 
back  to  Albany.1  “Make  all  haste,”  Yaudreuil 
wrote  to  him ;  “  for  when  you  return  we  shall  send 
you  to  Oswego  to  execute  our  first  design.”2 

Johnson  on  his  part  was  preparing  to  advance. 
In  July  about  three  thousand  provincials  were  en¬ 
camped  near  Albany,  some  on  the  “  Flats  ”  above  the 
town,  and  some  on  the  meadows  below.  Hither, 
too,  came  a  swarm  of  Johnson’s  Mohawks,  —  warriors, 
squaws,  and  children.  They  adorned  the  general’s 
face  with  war-paint,  and  he  danced  the  war-dance; 
then  with  his  sword  he  cut  the  first  slice  from  the  ox 
that  had  been  roasted  whole  for  their  entertainment. 
“I  shall  be  glad,”  wrote  the  surgeon  of  a  New  Eng¬ 
land  regiment,  “  if  they  fight  as  eagerly  as  they  ate 

their  ox  and  drank  their  wine.” 

1  Bigot  au  Ministre,  27  Aout,  1755.  Ibid.,  5  Septembre,  1755. 

2  Memoire  pour  servir  d’ Instruction  a  M.  le  Baron  de  Dieskau, 
Marechal  des  Camps  et  Arme'es  du  Roy,  15  Aout ,  1755. 


1755.] 


DELAYS. 


301 


Above  all  things  the  expedition  needed  prompt¬ 
ness;  yet  everything  moved  slowly.  Five  popular 
legislatures  controlled  the  troops  and  the  supplies. 
Connecticut  had  refused  to  send  her  men  till  Shirley 
promised  that  her  commanding  officer  should  rank 
next  to  Johnson.  The  whole  movement  was  for 
some  time  at  a  deadlock  because  the  five  governments 
could  not  agree  about  their  contributions  of  artillery 
and  stores.1  The  New  Hampshire  regiment  had 
taken  a  short  cut  for  Crown  Point  across  the  wilder¬ 
ness  of  Vermont,  but  had  been  recalled  in  time  to 
save  them  from  probable  destruction.  They  were 
now  with  the  rest  in  the  camp  at  Albany,  in  such 
distress  for  provisions  that  a  private  subscription 
was  proposed  for  their  relief.2 

Johnson’s  army,  crude  as  it  was,  had  in  it  good 
material.  Here  was  Phineas  Lyman,  of  Connecticut, 
second  in  command,  once  a  tutor  at  Yale  College, 
and  more  recently  a  lawyer,  —  a  raw  soldier,  but  a 
vigorous  and  brave  one ;  Colonel  Moses  Titcomb,  of 
Massachusetts,  who  had  fought  with  credit  at  Louis- 
bourg;  and  Ephraim  Williams,  also  colonel  of  a 
Massachusetts  regiment,  a  tall  and  portly  man,  who 
had  been  a  captain  in  the  last  war,  member  of  the 
General  Court,  and  deputy  sheriff.  He  made  his 
will  in  the  camp  at  Albany,  and  left  a  legacy  to 

1  The  Conduct  of  Major-General  Shirley  briefly  stated  (London, 
1758). 

2  Blanchard  to  Wentworth ,  28  August,  1755,  in  Provincial  Papers  of 
New  Hampshire,  vi.  429. 


ft 


302  DIESKAU.  T1755. 

found  the  school  which  has  since  become  Williams 
College.  His  relative,  Stephen  Williams,  was  chap¬ 
lain  of  his  regiment,  and  his  brother  Thomas  was  its 
surgeon.  Seth  Pomeroy,  gunsmith  at  Northampton, 
who,  like  Titcomb,  had  seen  service  at  Louisbourg, 
was  its  lieutenant-colonel.  He  had  left  a  wife  at 
home,  an  excellent  matron,  to  whom  he  was  con¬ 
tinually  writing  affectionate  letters,  mingling  house¬ 
hold  cares  with  news  of  the  camp,  and  charging  her 
to  see  that  their  eldest  boy,  Seth,  then  in  college  at 
New  Haven,  did  not  run  off  to  the  army.  Pomeroy 
had  with  him  his  brother  Daniel ;  and  this  he  thought 
was  enough.  Here,  too,  was  a  man  whose  name  is 
still  a  household  word  in  New  England,  —  the  sturdy 
Israel  Putnam,  private  in  a  Connecticut  regiment; 
and  another  as  bold  as  he,  John  Stark,  lieutenant  in 
the  New  Hampshire  levies,  and  the  future  victor  of 
Bennington. 

The  soldiers  were  no  soldiers,  but  farmers  and 
farmers’  sons  who  had  volunteered  for  the  summer 
campaign.  One  of  the  corps  had  a  blue  uniform 
faced  with  red.  The  rest  wore  their  daily  clothing. 
Blankets  had  been  served  out  to  them  by  the  several 
provinces,  but  the  greater  part  brought  their  own 
guns ;  some  under  the  penalty  of  a  fine  if  they  came 
without  them,  and  some  under  the  inducement  of  a 
reward.1  They  had  no  bayonets,  but  carried  hatchets 
in  their  belts  as  a  sort  of  substitute.2  At  their  sides 

1  Proclamation  of  Governor  Shirley,  1755. 

2  Second  Letter  to  a  Friend  on  the  Battle  of  Lake  George. 


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1755.]  THE  PROVINCIAL  ARMY.  303 

were  slung  powder-horns,  on  which,  in  the  leisure 
of  the  camp,  they  carved  quaint  devices  with  the' 
points  of  their  jack-knives.  They  came  chiefly  from 
plain  New  England  homesteads,  —  rustic  abodes, 
unpainted  and^dingy,  with  long  well-sweeps,  capacious 
barns,  rough  fields  of  pumpkins  and  corn,  and  vast 
kitchen  chimneys,  above  which  in  winter  hung 
squashes  to  keep  them  from  frost,  and  guns  to  keep 
them  from  rust. 

As  to  the  manners  and  morals  of  the  army  there  is 
conflict  of  evidence.  In  some  respects  nothing  could 
be  more  exemplary.  “Not  a  chicken  has  been 
stolen,”  says  William  Smith,  of  New  York;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams  writes 
to  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  then  commanding  on  the 
Massachusetts  frontier:  “We  are  a  wicked,  profane 
army,  especially  the  New  York  and  Rhode  Island 
troops.  Nothing  to  be  heard  among  a  great  part  of 
them  but  the  language  of  Hell.  If  Crown  Point  is 
taken,  it  will  not  be  for  our  sakes,  but  for  those  good 
people  left  behind.”1  There  was  edifying  regularity 
in  respect  to  form.  Sermons  twice  a  week,  daily 
prayers,  and  frequent  psalm-singing  alternated  with 
the  much-needed  military  drill.2  “Prayers  among 
us  night  and  morning,”  writes  Private  Jonathan 
Caswell,  of  Massachusetts,  to  his  father.  “Here  we 
lie,  knowing  not  when  we  shall  march  for  Crown 
Point;  but  I  hope  not  long  to  tarry.  Desiring  your 


1  Papers  of  Colonel  Israel  Williams. 
8  Massachusetts  Archives. 


DIESKAU. 


304 


[1755. 


prayers  to  God  for  me  as  I  am  agoing  to  war,  I  am 
Yonr  Ever  Dutiful  Son.”  1 

To  Pomeroy  and  some  of  his  brothers  in  arms  it 
seemed  that  they  were  engaged  in  a  kind  of  crusade 
against  the  myrmidons  of  Rome.  44  As  you  have  at 
heart  the  Protestant  cause,”  he  wrote  to  his  friend 
Israel  Williams,  44  so  I  ask  an  interest  in  your  prayers 
that  the  Lord  of  Hosts  would  go  forth  with  us  and 
give  us  victory  over  our  unreasonable,  encroaching, 
barbarous,  murdering  enemies.” 

Both  Williams  the  surgeon  and  Williams  the 
colonel  chafed  at  the  incessant  delays.  44  The  expe¬ 
dition  goes  on  very  much  as  a  snail  runs,”  writes  the 
former  to  his  wife;  “it  seems  we  may  possibly  see 
Crown  Point  this  time  twelve  months.”  The  colonel 
was  vexed  because  everything  was  out  of  joint  in  the 
department  of  transportation :  wagoners  mutinous  for 
want  of  pay ;  ordnance  stores,  camp-kettles,  and 
provisions  left  behind.  “As  to  rum,”  he  complains, 
44  it  won’t  hold  out  nine  weeks.  Things  appear 
most  melancholy  to  me.”  Even  as  he  was  writing,  a 
report  came  of  the  defeat  of  Braddock ;  and,  shocked 
at  the  blow,  his  pen  traced  the  words:  “The  Lord 
have  mercy  on  poor  New  England!  ” 

Johnson  had  sent  four  Mohawk  scouts  to  Canada. 
They  returned  on  the  twenty-first  of  August  with 
the  report  that  the  French  were  all  astir  with  prepa¬ 
ration,  and  that  eight  thousand  men  were  coming  to 
defend  Crown  Point.  On  this  a  council  of  war  was 
1  Jonathan  Caswell  to  John  Caswell ,  6  July,  1755. 


305 


!755.|  MARCH  FOR  LAKE  GEORGE. 

called;  and  it  was  resolved  to  send  to  the  several 
colonies  for  reinforcements.1  Meanwhile  the  main 
body  had  moved  up  the  river  to  the  spot  called  the 
Great  Carrying  Place,  where  Lyman  had  begun  a 
fortified  storehouse,  which  his  men  called  Fort 
Lyman,  but  which  was  afterwards  named  Fort 
Edward.  Two  Indian  trails  led  from  this  point  to 
the  waters  of  Lake  Champlain,  one  by  way  of  Lake 
George,  and  the  other  by  way  of  Wood  Creek. 
There  was  doubt  which  course  the  army  should  take. 
A  road  was  begun  to  Wood  Creek;  then  it  was 
countermanded,  and  a  party  was  sent  to  explore  the 
path  to  Lake  George.  “With  submission  to  the 
general  officers,”  Surgeon  Williams  again  writes,  “I 
think  it  a  very  grand  mistake  that  the  business  of 
reconnoitring  was  not  done  months  agone.”  It  was 
resolved  at  last  to  march  for  Lake  George ;  gangs  of 
axemen  were  sent  to  hew  out  the  way ;  and  on  the 
twenty-sixth  two  thousand  men  were  ordered  to  the 
lake,  while  Colonel  Blanchard,  of  New  Hampshire, 
remained  with  five  hundred  to  finish  and  defend  h  ort 
Lyman. 

The  train  of  Dutch  wagons,  guarded  by  the  homely 
soldiery,  jolted  slowly  over  the  stumps  and  roots  of 
the  newly  made  road,  and  the  regiments  followed  at 
their  leisure.  The  hardships  of  the  way  were  not 
without  their  consolations.  The  jovial  Irishman  who 
held  the  chief  command  made  himself  very  agreeable 

1  Minutes  of  Council  of  War ,  22  August,  1755.  Ephraim  Williamt 
to  Benjamin  Dwight ,  22  August,  1755. 
vol.  i.  —  20 


306 


DIESKAU. 


[1755. 


to  the  New  England  officers.  “We  went  on  about 
four  or  five  miles,”  says  Pomeroy  in  his  Journal, 
“  then  stopped,  ate  pieces  of  broken  bread  and  cheese, 
and  drank  some  fresh  lemon-punch  and  the  best  of 
wine  with  General  Johnson  and  some  of  the  field- 
officers.”  It  was  the  same  on  the  next  day.  “  Stopped 
about  noon  and  dined  with  General  Johnson  by  a 
small  brook  under  a  tree ;  ate  a  good  dinner  of  cold 
boiled  and  roast  venison;  drank  good  fresh  lemon- 
punch  and  wine.” 

That  afternoon  they  reached  their  destination, 
fourteen  miles  from  Fort  Lyman.  The  most  beauti¬ 
ful  lake  in  America  lay  before  them;  then  more 
beautiful  than  now,  in  the  wild  charm  of  untrodden 
mountains  and  virgin  forests.  “  I  have  given  it  the 
name  of  Lake  George,”  wrote  Johnson  to  the  Lords 
of  Trade,  “  not  only  in  honor  of  His  Majesty,  but  to 
ascertain  his  undoubted  dominion  here.”  His  men 
made  their  camp  on  a  piece  of  rough  ground  by  the 
edge  of  the  water,  pitching  their  tents  among  the 
stumps  of  the  newly  felled  trees.  In  their  front  was 
a  forest  of  pitch-pine ;  on  their  right,  a  marsh,  choked 
with  alders  and  swamp-maples;  on  their  left,  the  low 
hill  where  Fort  George  was  afterwards  built;  and  at 
their  rear,  the  lake.  Little  was  done  to  clear  the 
forest  in  front,  though  it  would  give  excellent  cover 
to  an  enemy.  Nor  did  Johnson  take  much  pains  to 
learn  the  movements  of  the  French  in  the  direction 
of  Crown  Point,  though  he  sent  scouts  towards  South 
Bay  and  Wood  Creek.  Every  day  stores  and  bateaux, 


1755.] 


SUNDAY  IN  CAMP. 


307 


or  flat  boats,  came  on  wagons  from  Fort  Lyman;  and 
preparation  moved  on  with  the  leisure  that  had 
marked  it  from  the  first.  About  three  hundred 
Mohawks  came  to  the  camp,  and  were  regarded  by 
the  New  England  men  as  nuisances.  On  Sunday 
the  gray-haired  Stephen  Williams  preached  to  these 
savage  allies  a  long  Calvinistic  sermon,  which  must 
have  sorely  perplexed  the  interpreter  whose  business 
it  was  to  turn  it  into  Mohawk ;  and  in  the  afternoon 
young  Chaplain  Newell,  of  Rhode  Island,  expounded 
to  the  New  England  men  the  somewhat  untimely 
text,  “Love  your  enemies.”  On  the  next  Sunday, 
September  seventh,  Williams  preached  again,  this 
time  to  the  whites  from  a  text  in  Isaiah.  It  was  a 
peaceful  day,  fair  and  warm,  with  a  few  light 
showers ;  yet  not  wholly  a  day  of  rest,  for  two  hun¬ 
dred  wagons  came  up  from  Fort  Lyman,  loaded  with 
bateaux.  After  the  sermon  there  was  an  alarm. 
An  Indian  scout  came  in  about  sunset,  and  reported 
that  he  had  found  the  trail  of  a  body  of  men  moving 
from  South  Bay  towards  Fort  Lyman.  Johnson 
called  for  a  volunteer  to  carry  a  letter  of  warning 
to  Colonel  Blanchard,  the  commander.  A  wagoner 
named  Adams  offered  himself  for  the  perilous  service, 
mounted,  and  galloped  along  the  road  with  the  letter. 
Sentries  were  posted,  and  the  camp  fell  asleep. 

While  Johnson  lay  at  Lake  George,  Dieskau  pre¬ 
pared  a  surprise  for  him.  The  German  baron  had 
reached  Crown  Point  at  the  head  of  three  thousand 
five  hundred  and  seventy-three  men,  regulars,  Cana- 


308 


DIESKAU. 


[1755. 


dians,  and  Indians.1  He  had  no  thought  of  waiting 
there  to  he  attacked.  The  troops  were  told  to  hold 
themselves  ready  to  move  at  a  moment’s  notice. 
Officers  —  so  ran  the  order  —  will  take  nothing  with 
them  but  one  spare  shirt,  one  spare  pair  of  shoes,  a 
blanket,  a  bearskin,  and  provisions  for  twelve  days ; 
Indians  are  not  to  amuse  themselves  by  taking  scalps 
till  the  enemy  is  entirely  defeated,  since  they  can  kill 
ten  men  in  the  time  required  to  scalp  one.2  Then 
Dieskau  moved  on,  with  nearly  "all  his  force,  to 
Carillon,  or  Ticonderoga,  a  promontory  commanding 
both  the  routes  by  which  alone  Johnson  could 
advance,  that  of  Wood  Creek  and  that  of  Lake 
George. 

The  Indian  allies  were  commanded  by  Legardeur 
de  Saint-Pierre,  the  officer  who  had  received  Wash¬ 
ington  on  his  embassy  to  Fort  Le  Boeuf.  These 
unmanageable  warriors  were  a  constant  annoyance  to 
Dieskau,  being  a  species  of  humanity  quite  new  to 
him.  “They  drive  us  crazy,”  he  says,  “from  morn¬ 
ing  till  night.  There  is  no  end  to  their  demands. 
They  have  already  eaten  five  oxen  and  as  many  hogs, 
without  counting  the  kegs  of  brandy  they  have 
drunk.  In  short,  one  needs  the  patience  of  an  angel 
to  get  on  with  these  devils ;  and  yet  one  must  always 
force  himself  to  seem  pleased  with  them.”3 

They  would  scarcely  even  go  out  as  scouts.  At 

1  Vaudreuil  au  Ministre,  25  Septembre,  1755. 

2  Livre  d’ Or  dres,  Aout ,  Septembre,  1755. 

3  Dieskau  a  Vaudreuil,  1  Septembre,  1755. 


\ 


1755.] 


THE  ADVANCE. 


309 


List,  however,  on  the  fourth  of  September,  a  recon¬ 
noitring  party  came  in  with  a  scalp  and  an  English 
prisoner  caught  near  Fort  Lyman.  Ide  was  ques¬ 
tioned  under  the  threat  of  being  given  to  the  Indians 
for  torture  if  he  did  not  tell  the  truth;  but,  noth¬ 
ing  daunted,  he  invented  a  patriotic  falsehood;  and 
thinking  to  lure  his  captors  into  a  trap,  told  them 
that  the  English  army  had  fallen  back  to  Albany, 
leaving  five  hundred  men  at  Fort  Lyman,  which  he 
represented  as  indefensible.  Dieskau  resolved  on  a 
rapid  movement  to  seize  the  place.  At  noon  of  the 
same  day,  leaving  a  part  of  his  force  at  Ticonderoga, 
he  embarked  the  rest  in  canoes  and  advanced  along 
the  narrow  prolongation  of  Lake  Champlain  that 
stretched  southward  through  the  wilderness  to  where 
the  town  of  Whitehall  now  stands.  He  soon  came 
to  a  point  where  the  lake  dwindled  to  a  mere  canal, 
while  two  mighty  rocks,  capped  with  stunted  forests, 
faced  each  other  from  the  opposing  banks.  Here  he 
left  an  officer  named  Roquemaure  with  a  detachment 
of  troops,  and  again  advanced  along  a  belt  of  quiet 
water  traced  through  the  midst  of  a  deep  marsh, 
green  at  that  season  with  sedge  and  water- weeds,  and 
known  to  the  English  as  the  Drowned  Lands. 
Beyond,  on  either  hand,  crags  feathered  with  birch 
and  fir,  or  hills  mantled  with  woods,  looked  down  on 
the  long  procession  of  canoes.1  As  they  neared  the 
site  of  Whitehall,  a  passage  opened  on  the  right,  the 

1  I  passed  this  way  three  weeks  ago.  There  are  some  points 
where  the  scene  is  not  much  changed  since  Dieskau  saw  it. 


310 


DIESKAU. 


[1755. 


*a£.  V- 


entrance  to  a  sheet  of  lonely  water  slumbering  in  the 
shadow  of  woody  mountains,  and  forming  the  lake 
then,  as  now,  called  South  Bay.  They  advanced  to 
its  head,  landed  where  a  small  stream  enters  it,  left 
the  canoes  under  a  guard,  and  began  their  march 
through  the  forest.  They  counted  in  all  two 
hundred  and  sixteen  regulars  of  the  battalions  of 
Languedoc  and  La  Reine,  six  hundred  and  eighty-four 
Canadians,  and  about  six  hundred  Indians.1  Every 
officer  and  man  carried  provisions  for  eight  days  in 
his  knapsack.  They  encamped  at  night  by  a  brook, 
and  in  the  morning,  after  hearing  mass,  marched 
again.  The  evening  of  the  next  day  brought  them 
near  the  road  that  led  to  Lake  George.  Fort  Lyman 
was  but  three  miles  distant.  A  man  on  horseback 
galloped  by;  it  was  Adams,  Johnson’s  unfortunate 
messenger.  The  Indians  shot  him,  and  found  the 
letter  in  his  pocket.  Soon  after,  ten  or  twelve 
wagons  appeared  in  charge  of  mutinous  drivers,  who 
had  left  the  English  camp  without  orders.  Several 
of  them  were  shot,  two  were  taken,  and  the  rest  ran 
off.  The  two  captives  declared  that,  contrary  to  the 
assertion  of  the  prisoner  at  Ticonderoga,  a  large  force 
lay  encamped  at  the  lake.  The  Indians  now  held  a 
council,  and  presently  gave  out  that  they  would  not 
attack  the  fort,  which  they  thought  well  supplied 
with  cannon,  but  that  they  were  willing  to  attack 
the  camp  at  Lake  George.  Remonstrance  was  lost 
upon  them.  Dieskau  was  not  young,  but  he  was 

1  Memoir  a  sur  l’ Affaire  du  8  Septembre. 


1755.] 


MARCH  AGAINST  JOHNSON. 


an 


daring  to  rashness,  and  inflamed  to  emulation  by  the 
victory  over  Braddock.  The  enemy  were  reported 
greatly  to  outnumber  him ;  but  his  Canadian  advisers 
bad  assured  him  that  the  English  colony  militia  were 
the  worst  troops  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  “The 
more  there  are,”  he  said  to  the  Canadians  and 
Indians,  “the  more  we  shall  kill;”  and  in  the  morn¬ 
ing  the  order  was  given  to  march  for  the  lake. 

They  moved  rapidly  on  through  the  waste  of  pines, 
and  soon  entered  the  rugged  valley  that  led  to 
Johnson’s  camp.  On  their  right  was  a  gorge  where, 
shadowed  in  bushes,  gurgled  a  gloomy  brook;  and 
beyond  rose  the  cliffs  that  buttressed  the  rocky 
heights  of  French  Mountain,  seen  by  glimpses 
between  the  boughs.  On  their  left  rose  gradually 
the  lower  slopes  of  West  Mountain.  All  was  rock, 
thicket,  and  forest;  there  was  no  open  space  but  the 
road  along  which  the  regulars  marched,  while  the 
Canadians  and  Indians  pushed  their  way  through 
the  woods  in  such  order  as  the  broken  ground  would 
permit. 

They  were  three  miles  from  the  lake,  when  their 
scouts  brought  in  a  prisoner  who  told  them  that  a 
column  of  English  troops  was  approaching.  Dieskau’s 
preparations  were  quickly  made.  While  the  regulars 
halted  on  the  road,  the  Canadians  and  Indians  moved 
to  the  front,  where  most  of  them  hid  in  the  forest 
along  the  slopes  of  West  Mountain,  and  the  rest  lay 
close  among  the  thickets  on  the  other  side.  Thus, 
when  the  English  advanced  to  attack  the  regulars  in 


312 


DIESKAtJ. 


[1755. 


front,  they  would  find  themselves  caught  in  a  double 
ambush.  No  sight  or  sound  betrayed  the  snare;  but 
behind  every  bush  crouched  a  Canadian  or  a  savage, 
with  gun  cocked  and  ears  intent,  listening  for  the 
tramp  of  the  approaching  column. 

The  wagoners  who  escaped  the  evening  before  had 
reached  the  camp  about  midnight,  and  reported  that 
there  was  a  war-party  on  the  road  near  Fort  Lyman. 
Johnson  had  at  this  time  twenty-two  hundred  effec¬ 
tive  men,  besides  his  three  hundred  Indians.1  He 
called  a  council  of  war  in  the  morning,  and  a  resolu¬ 
tion  was  taken  which  can  only  be  explained  by  a 
complete  misconception  as  to  the  force  of  the  French. 
It  was  determined  to  send  out  two  detachments  of 
five  hundred  men  each,  one  towards  Fort  Lyman, 
and  the  other  towards  South  Bay,  tine  object  being, 
according  to  Johnson,  “to  catch  the  enemy  in  their 
retreat.”2  Hendrick,  chief  of  the  Mohawks,  a  brave 
and  sagacious  warrior,  expressed  his  dissent  after  a 
fashion  of  liis  own.  He  picked  up  a  stick  and  broke 
it;  then  he  picked  up  several  sticks,  and  showed 
that  together  they  could  not  be  broken.  The  hint 
was  taken,  and  the  two  detachments  were  joined  in 
one.  Still  the  old  savage  shook  his  head.  “If  they 
are  to  be  killed,”  he  said,  “they  are  too  many;  if 

1  Wraxall  to  Lieutenant-Governor  Delancey,  10  September ,  1755. 
Wraxall  was  Johnson’s  aide-de-camp  and  secretary.  The  Second 
letter  to  a  Friend  says  twenty-one  hundred  whites  and  two  hundred 
or  three  hundred  Indians.  Blodget,  who  was  also  on  the  spot,  sets 
the  whites  at  two  thousand. 

2  Letter  to  the  Governors  of  the  Several  Colonies ,  9  September ,  1755. 


TIIE  AMBUSH. 


318 


1755.] 

they  are  to  fight,  they  are  too  few.”  Nevertheless, 
he  resolved  to  share  their  fortunes ;  and  mounting1  on 
a  gun-carriage,  he  harangued  his  warriors  with  a 
voice  so  animated  and  gestures  so  expressive  that 
the  New  England  officers  listened  in  admiration, 
though  they  understood  not  a  word.  One  difficulty 
remained.  He  was  too  old  and  fat  to  go  afoot;  but 
Johnson  lent  him  a  horse,  which  he  bestrode,  and 
trotted  to  the  head  of  the  column,  followed  by  two 
hundred  of  his  warriors  as  fast  as  they  could  grease, 
paint,  and  befeatlier  themselves. 

Captain  Elisha  Hawley  was  in  his  tent,  finishing  a 
letter  which  he  had  just  written  to  his  brother  Joseph; 
and  these  were  the  last  words:  “I  am  this  minute 
agoing  out  in  company  with  five  hundred  men  to  see 

m 

if  we  can  intercept  ’em  in  their  retreat,  or  find  their 
canoes  in  the  Drowned  Lands;  and  therefore  must 
conclude  this  letter.”  He  closed  and  directed  it; 
and  in  an  hour  received  his  death-wound. 

It  was  soon  after  eight  o’clock  when  Ephraim 
Williams  left  the  camp  with  his  regiment,  marched 
a  little  distance,  and  then  waited  for  the  rest  of 
the  detachment  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Whiting. 
Thus  Dieskau  had  full  time  to  lay  his  ambush. 
When  Whiting  came  up,  the  whole  moved  on  to¬ 
gether,  so  little  conscious  of  danger  that  no  scouts 
were  thrown  out  in  front  or  flank;  and,  in  full 
security,  they  entered  the  fatal  snare.  Before  they 
were  completely  involved  in  it,  the  sharp  eye  of  old 
Hendrick  detected  some  sign  of  an  enemy.  At  that 


314 


DIESKAU. 


[1755. 


,!**'*> 


instant,  whether  by  accident  or  design,  a  gun  was 
fired  from  the  bushes.  It  is  said  that  Dieskau’s 
Iroquois,  seeing  Mohawks,  their  relatives,  in  the  van, 
wished  to  warn  them  of  danger.  If  so,  the  warning 
came  too  late.  The  thickets  on  the  left  blazed  out  a 
deadly  fire,  and  the  men  fell  by  scores.  In  the 
words  of  Dieskau,  the  head  of  the  column  “was 
doubled  up  like  a  pack  of  cards.”  Hendrick’s  horse 
was  shot  down,  and  the  chief  was  killed  with  a  bayo¬ 
net  as  he  tried  to  rise.  Williams,  seeing  a  rising 
ground  on  his  right,  made  for  it,  calling  on-  his  men 
to  follow;  but  as  he  climbed  the  slope,  guns  flashed 
from  the  bushes,  and  a  shot  through  the  brain  laid 
him  dead.  The  men  in  the  rear  pressed  forward  to 
support  their  comrades,  when  a  hot  fire  was  suddenly 
opened  on  them  from  the  forest  along  their  right 
flank.  Then  there  was  a  panic ;  some  fled  outright, 
and  the  whole  column  recoiled.  The  van  now 
became  the  rear,  and  all  the  force  of  the  enemy  rushed 
upon  it,  shouting  and  screeching.  There  was  a 
moment  of  total  confusion;  but  a  part  of  Williams’s 
regiment  rallied  under  command  of  Whiting,  and 
covered  the  retreat,  fighting  behind  trees  like  Indians, 
and  firing  and  falling  back  by  turns,  bravely  aided 
V  xiie  of  the  Mohawks  and  by  a  detachment  which 
Johnson  sent  to  their  aid.  “And  a  very  handsome 
retreat  they  made,”  writes  Pomeroy;  “and  so  con¬ 
tinued  till  they  came  within  about  three  quarters  of 
a  mile  of  our  camp.  This  was  the  last  fire  our  men 
gave  our  enemies,  which  killed  great  numbers  of 


\ 


1755.]  PREPARATIONS  FOR  DEFENCE.  315 
them;  they  were  seen  to  drop  as  pigeons.”  So  ended 

* 

the  fray  long  known  in  New  England  fireside  story 
as  the  “  bloody  morning  scout.  ”  Dieskau  now  ordered 
a  halt,  and  sounded  his  trumpets  to  collect  his  scat¬ 
tered  men.  His  Indians,  however,  were  sullen  and 
unmanageable,  and  the  Canadians  also  showed  signs 
of  wavering.  The  veteran  who  commanded  them 
all,  Legardeur  de  Saint-Pierre,  had  been  killed.  At 
length  they  were  persuaded  to  move  again,  the 
regulars  leading  the  way. 

About  an  hour  after  Williams  and  his  men  had 
begun  their  march,  a  distant  rattle  of  musketry  was 
heard  at  the  camp ;  and  as  it  grew  nearer  and  louder, 
the  listeners  knew  that  their  comrades  were  on  the 
retreat.  Then,  at  the  eleventh  hour,  preparations 
were  begun  for  defence.  A  sort  of  barricade  was 
made  along  the  front  of  the  camp,  partly  of  wagons, 
and  partly  of  inverted  bateaux,  but  chiefly  of  the 
trunks  of  trees  hastily  hewn  down  in  the  neighboring 
forest  and  laid  end  to  end  in  a  single  row.  The  line 
extended  from  the  southern  slopes  of  the  hill  on  the 
left  across  a  tract  of  rough  ground  to  the  marshes  on 
the  right.  The  forest,  choked  with  bushes  and 
clumps  of  rank  ferns,  was  within  a  few  yards  of  the 
barricade,  and  there  was  scarcely  time  to  hack  away 
the  intervening  thickets.  Three  cannon  were  planted 
to  sweep  the  road  that  descended  through  the  pines, 
and  another  was  dragged  up  to  the  ridge  of  the  hill. 
The  defeated  party  began  to  come  in;  first,  scared 
fugitives  both  white  and  red;  then,  gangs  of  men 


316 


DIESKAU. 


[1755. 


bringing  the  wounded;  and  at  last,  an  hour  and  a 
half  after  the  first  fire  was  heard,  the  main  detach¬ 
ment  was  seen  marching  in  compact  bodies  down  the 
road. 

Five  hundred  men  were  detailed  to  guard  the 
flanks  of  the  camp.  The  rest  stood  behind  the 
wagons  or  lay  flat  behind  the  logs  and  inverted 
bateaux,  the  Massachusetts  men  on  the  right,  and 
the  Connecticut  men  on  the  left.  Besides  Indians, 
this  actual  fighting  force  was  between  sixteen  and 
seventeen  hundred  rustics,  very  few  of  whom  had 
been  under  fire  before  that  morning.  They  were 
hardly  at  their  posts  when  they  saw  ranks  of  white- 
coated  soldiers  moving  down  the  road,  and  bayonets 
that  to  them  seemed  innumerable  glittering  between 
the  boughs.  At  the  same  time  a  terrific  burst  of 
war-whoops  rose  along  the  front;  and,  in  the  words 
of  Pomeroy,  “the  Canadians  and  Indians,  helter- 
skelter,  the  woods  full  of  them,  came  running  with 
undaunted  courage  right  down  the  hill  upon  us, 
expecting  to  make  us  flee.”1  Some  of  the  men  grew 
uneasy;  while  the  chief  officers,  sword  in  hand, 
threatened  instant  death  to  any  who  should  stir  from 
their  posts.2  If  Dieskau  had  made  an  assault  at  that 
instant,  there  could  be  little  doubt  of  the  result. 

This  he  well  knew;  but  he  was  powerless.  He 
had  his  small  force  of  regulars  well  in  hand;  but  the 
rest,  red  and  white,  were  beyond  control,  scattering 

1  Seth  Pomeroy  to  his  Wife,  10  September,  1755. 

2  Dr,  Perez  Marsh  to  William  Williams,  25  September,  1755. 


1755.] 


BATTLE  OF  LAKE  GEORGE. 


317 


through  the  woods  and  swamps,  shouting,  yelling, 
and  firing  from  behind  trees.  The  regulars  advanced 
with  intrepidity  towards  the  camp  where  the  trees 
were  thin,  deployed,  and  fired  by  platoons,  till  Cap¬ 
tain  Eyre,  who  commanded  the  artillery,  opened  on 
them  with  grape,  broke  their  ranks,  and  compelled 
them  to  take  to  cover.  The  fusillade  was  now 
general  on  both  sides,  and  soon  grew  furious.  “  Per¬ 
haps,”  Seth  Pomeroy  wrote  to  his  wife,  two  days 
after,  “  the  hailstones  from  heaven  were  never  much 
thicker  than  their  bullets  came;  but,  blessed  be 
God!  that  did  not  in  the  least  daunt  or  disturb  us.” 
Johnson  received  a  flesh-wound  in  the  thigh,  and 
spent  the  rest  of  the  day  in  his  tent.  Lyman  took 
command ;  and  it  is  a  marvel  that  he  escaped  alive, 
for  he  was  four  hours  in  the  heat  of  the  fire,  directing 
and  animating  the  men.  “It  was  the  most  awful 
day  my  eyes  ever  beheld,”  wrote  Surgeon  Williams 
to  his  wife ;  “  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  but  thunder 
and  lightning  and  perpetual  pillars  of  smoke.”  To 
him,  his  colleague  Doctor  Pynchon,  one  assistant, 
and  a  young  student  called  “Billy,”  fell  the  charge 
of  the  wounded  of  his  regiment.  “  The  bullets  flew 
about  our  ears  all  the  time  of  dressing  them;  so  we 
thought  best  to  leave  our  tent  and  retire  a  few  rods 
behind  the  shelter  of  a  log -house.”  On  the  adjacent 
hill  stood  one  Blodget,  who  seems  to  have  been  a 
sutler,  watching,  as  well  as  bushes,  trees,  and  smoke 
would  let  him,  the  progress  of  the  fight,  of  which  he 
soon  after  made  and  published  a  curious  bird’s-eye 


318 


DIESKAU. 


[1755. 


view.  As  the  wounded  men  were  carried  to  the 
rear,  the  wagoners  about  the  camp  took  their  guns 
and  powder-horns,  and  joined  in  the  fray.  A 
Mohawk,  seeing  one  of  these  men  still  unarmed, 
leaped  over  the  barricade,  tomahawked  the  nearest 
Canadian,  snatched  his  gun,  and  darted  back  unhurt. 
The  brave  savage  found  no  imitators  among  his  tribes¬ 
men,  most  of  whom  did  nothing  but  utter  a  few  war- 
whoops,  saying  that  they  had  come  to  see  their 
English  brothers  fight.  Some  of  the  French  Indians 
opened  a  distant  flank  fire  from  the  high  ground 
beyond  the  swamp  on  the  right,  but  were  driven  off 
by  a  few  shells  dropped  among  them. 

Dieskau  had  directed  his  first  attack  against  the 
left  and  centre  of  Johnson’s  position.  Making  no 
impression  here,  he  tried  to  force  the  right,  where 
lay  the  regiments  of  Titcomb,  Ruggles,  and  Williams. 
The  fire  was  hot  for  about  an  hour.  Titcomb  was 
shot  dead,  a  rod  in  front  of  the  barricade,  firing  from 
behind  a  tree  like  a  common  soldier.  At  length 
Dieskau,  exposing  himself  within  short  range  of  the 
English  line,  was  hit  in  the  leg.  His  adjutant, 
Montreuil,  himself  wounded,  came  to  his  aid,  and 
was  washing  the  injured  limb  with  brandy,  when  the 
unfortunate  commander  was  again  hit  in  the  knee 
and  thigh.  He  seated  himself  behind  a  tree,  while 
the  adjutant  called  two  Canadians  to  carry  him  to 
the  rear.  One  of  them  was  instantly  shot  down. 
Montreuil  took  his  place ;  but  Dieskau  refused  to  be 
moved,  bitterly  denounced  the  Canadians  and  Indians, 


1755.]  ROUT  OF  THE  FRENCH.  319 

and  orderf  d  the  adjutant  to  leave  him  and  lead  the 
regulars  in  a  last  effort  against  the  camp. 

It  was  <300  late.  Johnson’s  men,  singly  or  in  small 
squads,  were  already  crossing  their  row  of  logs ;  and 
in  a  few  moments  the  whole  dashed  forward  with  a 
shout,  falling  upon  the  enemy  with  hatchets  and  the 
butte  of  their  guns.  The  French  and  their  allies 
fled.  The  wounded  general  still  sat  helpless  by  the 
tree,  when  he  saw  a  soldier  aiming  at  him.  He 
signed  to  the  man  not  to  fire ;  but  he  pulled  trigger, 
shot  him  across  the  hips,  leaped  upon  him,  and 
ordered  him  in  French  to  surrender.  “I  said,” 
writes  Dieskau,  ‘“You  rascal,  why  did  you  fire? 
You  see  a  man  lying  in  his  blood  on  the  ground, 
and  you  shoot  him!  ’  He  answered:  ‘  How  did  I 
know  that  you  had  not  got  a  pistol  ?  I  had  rather 
kill  the  devil  than  have  the  devil  kill  me.’  ‘You 
are  a  Frenchman?’  I  asked.  ‘Yes,’  he  replied;  ‘  it 
is  more  than  ten  years  since  I  left  Canada ;  ’  where¬ 
upon  several  others  fell  on  me  and  stripped  me.  I 
told  them  to  carry  me  to  their  general,  which  they 
did.  On  learning  who  I  was,  he  sent  for  surgeons, 
and,  though  wounded  himself,  refused  all  assistance 
till  my  wounds  were  dressed.”  1 

It  was  near  five  o’clock  when  the  final  rout  took 
place.  Some  time  before,  several  hundred  of  the 

1  Dialogue  entre  le  Marshal  de  Saxe  et  le  Baron  de  Dieslcau  aux 
Champs  Elystes.  This  paper  is  in  the  Archives  de  la  Guerre,  and 
was  evidently  written  or  inspired  by  Dieskau  himself.  In  spite  of 
its  fanciful  form  it  is  a  sober  statement  of  the  events  of  the  cam¬ 
paign.  There  is  a  translation  of  it  in  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  x.  340. 


DIESKAU. 


820 


[1755. 


Canadians  and  Indians  had  left  the  field  ar  I  returned 
to  the  scene  of  the  morning  fight,  to  plunder  and 
scalp  the  dead.  They  were  resting  themselves  near 
a  pool  in  the  forest,  close  beside  the  road,  when  their 
repose  was  interrupted  by  a  volley  of  bullets.  It 
was  fired  by  a  scouting  party  from  Fort  Lyman, 
chiefly  backwoodsmen,  under  Captains  Folsom  and 
McGinnis.  The  assailants  were  greatly  outnumbered ; 
but  after  a  hard  fight  the  Canadians  and  Indians 
broke  and  fled.  McGinnis  was  mortally  wounded. 
He  continued  to  give  orders  till  the  firing  was  over; 
then  fainted,  and  was  carried,  dying,  to  the  camp. 
The  bodies  of  the  slain,  according  to  tradition,  were 
thrown  into  the  pool,  which  bears  to  this  day  the 
name  of  Bloody  Pond. 

The  various  bands  of  fugitives  rejoined  each  other 
towards  night,  and  encamped  in  the  forest,  then 
made  their  way  round  the  southern  shoulder  of 
French  Mountain,  till,  in  the  next  evening,  they 
reached  their  canoes.  Their  plight  was  deplorable; 
for  they  had  left  their  knapsacks  behind,  and  were 
spent  with  fatigue  and  famine. 

Meanwhile  their  captive  general  was  not  yet  out 
of  danger.  The  Mohawks  were  furious  at  their 
losses  in  the  ambush  of  the  morning,  and  above  all 
at  the  death  of  Hendrick.  Scarcely  were  Dieslmu’s 
wounds  dressed,  when  several  of  them  came  into  the 
tent.  There  was  a  long  and  angry  dispute  in  their 
own  language  between  them  and  Johnson,  after 
which  they  went  out  very  sullenly.  Dieskau  asked 


\ 


I 


1755.] 


MOHAWK  FEROCITY. 


321 


what  they  wanted.  “  What  do  they  want  ?  ”  returned 
Johnson.  “  To  burn  you,  by  God,  eat  you,  and 
smoke  you  in  their  pipes,  in  revenge  for  three  or  four 
of  their  chiefs  that  were  killed.  But  never  fear; 
you  shall  be  safe  with  me,  or  else  they  shall  kill  us 
both.”  1  The  Mohawks  soon  came  back,  and  another 
talk  ensued,  excited  at  first,  and  then  more  calm; 
till  at  length  the  visitors,  seemingly  appeased,  smiled, 
gave  Dieskau  their  hands  in  sign  of  friendship,  and 
quietly  went  out  again.  Johnson  warned  him  that 
he  was  not  yet  safe ;  and  when  the  prisoner,  fearing 
that  his  presence  might  incommode  his  host,  asked 
to  be  removed  to  another  tent,  a  captain  and  fifty 
men  were  ordered  to  guard  him.  In  the  morning 
an  Indian,  alone  and  apparently  unarmed,  loitered 
about  the  entrance,  and  the  stupid  sentinel  let  him 
pass  in.  He  immediately  drew  a  sword  from  under 
a  sort  of  cloak  which  he  wore,  and  tried  to  stab 
Dieskau,  but  was  prevented  by  the  colonel  to  whom 
the  tent  belonged,  who  seized  upon  him,  took  away 
his  sword,  and  pushed  him  out.  As  soon  as  his 
wounds  would  permit,  Dieskau  was  carried  on  a 
litter,  strongly  escorted,  to  Fort  Lyman,  whence  he 
was  sent  to  Albany,  and  afterwards  to  New  York. 
He  is  profuse  in  expressions  of  gratitude  for  the 
kindness  shown  him  by  the  colonial  officers,  and 
especially  by  Johnson.  Of  the  provincial  soldiers  he 

1  See  the  story  as  told  by  Dieskau  to  the  celebrated  Diderot,  at 
Paris,  in  1760.  Mtmoires  de  Diderot ,  i.  402  (1830).  Compare  N.  Y. 
Col.  Docs.,  x.  343. 

VOL.  I.  —  21 


822 


DIESKAU. 


[1755. 


remarked  soon  after  the  battle  that  in  the  morning 
they  fought  like  good  boys,  about  noon  like  men,  and 
in  the  afternoon  like  devils.1  In  the  spring  of  1757 
he  sailed  for  England,  and  was  for  a  time  at  Fal¬ 
mouth;  whence  Colonel  Matthew  Sewell,  fearing 
that  he  might  see  and  learn  too  much,  wrote  to  the 
Earl  of  Holdernesse :  “  The  Baron  has  great  penetra¬ 
tion  and  quickness  of  apprehension.  His  long  ser¬ 
vice  under  Marshal  Saxe  renders  him  a  man  of  real 
consequence,  to  be  cautiously  observed.  His  cir¬ 
cumstances  deserve  compassion,  for  indeed  they  are 
very  melancholy,  and  I  much  doubt  of  his  being  ever 
perfectly  cured.”  He  was  afterwards  a  long  time  at 
Bath,  for  the  benefit  of  the  waters.  In  1760  the 
famous  Diderot  met  him  at  Paris,  cheerful  and  full 
of  anecdote,  though  wretchedly  shattered  by  his 
wounds.  He  died  a  few  years  later. 

On  the  night  after  the  battle  the  yeomen  warriors 
felt  the  truth  of  the  saying  that,  next  to  defeat,  the 
saddest  thing  is  victory.  Comrades  and  friends  by 
scores  lay  scattered  through  the  forest.  As  soon  as 
he  could  snatch  a  moment’s  leisure,  the  overworked 
surgeon  sent  the  dismal  tidings  to  his  wife:  “My 
dear  brother  Ephraim  was  killed  by  a  ball  through 
his  head;  poor  brother  Josiali’s  wound  I  fear  will 
prove  mortal;  poor  Captain  Hawley  is  yet  alive, 
though  I  did  not  think  he  would  live  two  hours  after 
bringing  him  in.”  Daniel  Pomeroy  was  shot  dead; 
and  his  brother  Seth  wrote  the  news  to  his  wife 

1  Dr.  Perez  Marsh  to  William  Williams ,  25  September ,  1755. 


1755.]  AFTER  THE  BATTLE.  323 

Rachel,  who  was  just  delivered  of  a  child:  “Dear 
Sister,  this  brings  heavy  tidings;  but  let  not  your 
heart  sink  at  the  news,  though  it  be  your  loss  of 
a  dear  husband.  Monday  the  eighth  instant  was  a 
memorable  day;  and  truly  you  may  say,  had  not  the 
Lord  been  on  our  side,  we  must  all  have  been  swal¬ 
lowed  up.  My  brother,  being  one  that  went  out  in 
the  first  engagement,  received  a  fatal  shot  through 
the  middle  of  the  head.”  Seth  Pomeroy  found  a 
moment  to  write  also  to  his  own  wife,  whom  he  tells 
that  another  attack  is  expected ;  adding,  in  quaintly 
pious  phrase :  “  But  as  God  hath  begun  to  show 
mercy,  I  hope  he  will  go  on  to  be  gracious.”  Pomeroy 
was  employed  during  the  next  few  days  with  four 
hundred  men  in  what  he  calls  “  the  melancholy  piece 
of  business”  of  burying  the  dead.  A  letter-writer 
of  the  time  does  not  approve  what  was  done  on  this 
occasion.  44  Our  people,  ”  he  says,  44  not  only  buried 
the  French  dead,  but  buried  as  many  of  them  as 
might  be  without  the  knowledge  of  our  Indians,  to 
prevent  their  being  scalped.  This  I  call  an  excess  of 
civility;”  his  reason  being  that  Braddock’s  dead 
soldiers  had  been  left  to  the  wolves. 

The  English  loss  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing 
was  two  hundred  and  sixty-two;1  and  that  of  the 
French  by  their  own  account,  two  hundred  and 
twenty-eight,2  —  a  somewhat  modest  result  of  five 

1  Return  of  Killed ,  Wounded,  and  Missing  at  the  Battle  of  Lake 
George. 

2  Doreil  au  Ministre,  20  Octobre,  1755.  Surgeon  Williams  gives 


DIESKAU. 


[1755. 


324 

hours’  fighting.  The  English  loss  was  chiefly  in  the 
ambush  of  the  morning,  where  the  killed  greatly 
outnumbered  the  wounded,  because  those  who  fell 
and  could  not  be  carried  away  were  tomahawked  by 
Dieskau’s  Indians.  In  the  fight  at  the  camp,  both 
Indians  and  Canadians  kept  themselves  so  well  under 
cover  that  it  was  very  difficult  for  the  New  England 
men  to  pick  them  off,  while  they  on  their  part  lay 
close  behind  their  row  of  logs.  On  the  French  side, 
the  regular  officers  and  troops  bore  the  brunt  of  the 
battle  and  suffered  the  chief  loss,  nearly  all  of  the 
former  and  nearly  half  of  the  latter  being  killed  or 

wounded. 

Johnson  did  not  follow  up  his  success.  He  says 
that  his  men  were  tired.  Yet  five  hundred  of  them 
had  stood  still  all  day,  and  boats  enough  for  their 
transportation  were  lying  on  the  beach.  Ten  miles 
down  the  lake,  a  path  led  over  a  gorge  of  the  moun¬ 
tains  to  South  Bay,  where  Dieskau  had  left  his 
canoes  and  provisions.  It  needed  but  a  few  hours  to 
reach  and  destroy  them;  but  no  such  attempt  was 
made.  Nor,  till  a  week  after,  did  Johnson  send  out 
scouts  to  learn  the  strength  of  the  enemy  at  Ticon- 
deroga.  Lyman  strongly  urged  him  to  make  an 
effort  to  seize  that  important  pass;  but  Johnson 
thought  only  of  holding  his  own  position.  “  I  think, !’ 
he  wrote,  “we  may  expect  very  shortly  a  more 

the  English  loss  as  two  hundred  and  sixteen  killed,  and  ninety-six 
wounded.  Pomeroy  thinks  that  the  Erench  lost  four  or  five  hun* 
dred.  Johnson  places  their  loss  at  four  hundred. 


325 


1755.]  INACTION  OF  JOHNSON. 

formidable  attack.’’  He  made  a  solid  breastwork  to 
defend  his  camp;  and  as  reinforcements  arrived,  set 
them  at  building  a  fort  on  a  rising  ground  by  the 
lake.  It  is  true  that  just  after  the  battle  he  was 
deficient  in  stores,  and  had  not  bateaux  enough  to 
move  his  whole  force.  It  is  true,  also,  that  he  was 
wounded,  and  that  he  was  too  jealous  of  Lyman  to 
delegate  the  command  to  him ;  and  so  the  days  passed 
till,  within  a  fortnight,  his  nimble  enemy  were  in¬ 
trenched  at  Ticonderoga  in  force  enough  to  defy  him. 

The  Crown  Point  expedition  was  a  failure  dis¬ 
guised  under  an  incidental  success.  The  northern 
provinces,  especially  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut, 
did  what  they  could  to  forward  it,  and  after  the 
battle  sent  a  herd  of  raw  recruits  to  the  scene  of 
action.  Shirley  wrote  to  Johnson  from  Oswego; 
declared  that  his  reasons  for  not  advancing  were 
insufficient,  and  urged  him  to  push  for  Ticonderoga 
at  once.  Johnson  replied  that  he  had  not  wagons 
enough,  and  that  his  troops  were  ill-clothed,  ill-fed, 
discontented,  insubordinate,  and  sickly.  He  com¬ 
plained  that  discipline  was  out  of  the  question, 
because  the  officers  were  chosen  by  popular  election; 
that  many  of  them  were  no  better  than  the  men, 
unfit  for  command,  and  like  so  many  “heads  of  a 
mob.”1  The  reinforcements  began  to  come  in,  till, 
in  October,  there  were  thirtv-six  hundred  men  in  the 
camp;  and  as  most  of  them  wore  summer  clothing 

i  Shirley  to  Johnson ,  19  September,  1755.  Ibid.,  24  September, 
1755.  Johnson  to  Shirley,  22  September,  1755.  Johnson  to  Phipps,  10 
October,  1755  (Massachusetts  Archives). 


DIESKAU. 


826 


[1755. 


and  had  but  one  thin  domestic  blanket,  they  were 
half  frozen  in  the  chill  autumn  nights. 

Johnson  called  a  council  of  war;  and  as  he  was 
suffering  from  inflamed  eyes,  and  was  still  kept  in 
his  tent  by  his  wound,  he  asked  Lyman  to  preside, 
—  not  unwilling,  perhaps,  to  shift  the  responsibility 
upon  him.  After  several  sessions  and  much  debate, 
the  assembled  officers  decided  that  it  was  inexpedient 
to  proceed.1  Yet  the  army  lay  more  than  a  month 
longer  at  the  lake,  while  the  disgust  of  the  men 
increased  daily  under  the  rains,  frosts,  and  snows  of 
a  dreary  November.  On  the  twenty-second,  Chandler, 
chaplain  of  one  of  the  Massachusetts  regiments, 
wrote  in  the  interleaved  almanac  that  served  him  as 
a  diary:  “The  men  just  ready  to  mutiny.  Some 
clubbed  their  firelocks  and  marched,  but  returned 
back.  Very  rainy  night.  Miry  water  standing  in 
the  tents.  Very  distressing  time  among  the  sick.” 
The  men  grew  more  and  more  unruly,  and  went  off 
in  squads  without  asking  leave.  A  difficult  question 
arose:  Who  should  stay  for  the  winter  to  garrison 
the  new  forts,  and  who  should  command  them  ?  It 
was  settled  at  last  that  a  certain  number  of  soldiers 
from  each  province  should  be  assigned  to  this  un¬ 
grateful  service,  and  that  Massachusetts  should  have 
the  first  officer,  Connecticut  the  second,  and  New 
York  the  third.  Then  the  camp  broke  up.  “Thurs¬ 
day  the  27th,”  wrote  the  chaplain  in  his  almanac, 
“we  set  out  about  ten  of  the  clock,  marched  in  a 
1  Reports  of  Council  of  War ,  11-21  October ,  1755. 


\ 


1755.]  THE  LAURELS  OF  VICTORY.  327 

body,  about  three  thousand,  the  wagons  and  baggage 
in  the  centre,  our  colonel  much  insulted  by  the 
way.”  The  soldiers  dispersed  to  their  villages  and 
farms,  where  in  blustering  winter  nights,  by  the 
blazing  logs  of  New  England  hearthstones,  they  told 
their  friends  and  neighbors  the  story  of  the  campaign. 

The  profit  of  it  fell  to  Johnson.  If  he  did  not 
gather  the  fruits  of  victory,  at  least  he  reaped  its 
laurels.  He  was  a  courtier  in  his  rough  way.  He 
had  changed  the  name  of  Lac  St.  Sacrement  to  Lake 
George,  in  compliment  to  the  King.  He  now 
changed  that  of  Fort  Lyman  to  Fort  Edward,  in  com¬ 
pliment  to  one  of  the  King’s  grandsons;  and,  in  com¬ 
pliment  to  another,  called  his  new  fort  at  the  lake, 
William  Henry.  Of  General  Lyman  he  made  no 
mention  in  his  report  of  the  battle,  and  his  partisans 
wrote  letters  traducing  that  brave  officer;  though 
Johnson  is  said  to  have  confessed  in  private  that  he 
owed  him  the  victory.  He  himself  found  no  lack  of 
eulogists;  and,  to  quote  the  words  of  an  able  but 
somewhat  caustic  and  prejudiced  opponent,  “to  the 
panegyrical  pen  of  his  secretary,  Mr.  Wraxall,  and 
the  sic  volo  sic  jubeo  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Delancey, 
is  to  be  ascribed  that  mighty  renown  which  echoed 
through  the  colonies,  reverberated  to  Europe,  and 
elevated  a  raw,  inexperienced  youth  into  a  kind  of 
second  Marlborough.”1  Parliament  gave  him  five 

1  Review  of  Military  Operations  in  North  America ,  in  a  Letter  to  a 
Nobleman  (ascribed  to  William  Livingston). 

On  the  Battle  of  Lake  George  a  mass  of  papers  will  be  found  in 


328 


DIESKAU.  [1755. 

thousand  pounds,  and  the  King  made  him  a 
baronet. 

the  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  vols.  vi.  and  x.  Those  in  Vol.  VI.,  taken 
chiefly  from  the  archives  of  New  York,  consist  of  official  and  pri¬ 
vate  letters,  reports,  etc.,  on  the  English  side.  Those  in  Vol.  X. 
are  drawn  chiefly  from  the  archives  of  the  French  War  Depart¬ 
ment,  and  include  the  correspondence  of  Dieskau  and  his  adjutant 
Montreuil.  I  have  examined  most  of  them  in  the  original.  Besides 
these  I  have  obtained  from  the  Archives  de  la  Marine  and  other 
sources  a  number  of  important  additional  papers,  which  have  never 
been  printed,  including  Vaudreuil’s  reports  to  the  Minister  of  War, 
and  his  strictures  on  Dieskau,  whom  he  accuses  of  disobeying 
orders  by  dividing  his  force ;  also  the  translation  of  an  English 
journal  of  the  campaign  found  in  the  pocket  of  a  captured  officer, 
and  a  long  account  of  the  battle  sent  by  Bigot  to  the  minister  of 
marine,  4  October,  1755. 

I  owe  to  the  kindness  of  Theodore  Pomeroy,  Esq.,  a  copy  of  the 
Journal  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Seth  Pomeroy,  whose  letters  also  are 
full  of  interest ;  as  are  those  of  Surgeon  Williams,  from  the  collec¬ 
tion  of  William  L.  Stone,  Esq.  The  papers  of  Colonel  Israel  Wil¬ 
liams,  in  the  Library  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  con¬ 
tain  many  other  curious  letters  relating  to  the  campaign,  extracts 
from  some  of  which  are  given  in  the  text.  One  of  the  most  curious 
records  of  the  battle  is  A  Prospective-Plan  of  the  Battle  near  Lake 
George ,  with  an  Explanation  thereof,  containing  a  fall,  though  short,  His¬ 
tory  of  that  important  Ajfair,  by  Samuel  Blodget,  occasionally  at  the 
Camp  when  the  Battle  was  fought.  It  is  an  engraving,  printed  at 
Boston  soon  after  the  fight,  of  which  it  gives  a  clear  idea.  Four 
years  after,  Blodget  opened  a  shop  in  Boston,  where,  as  appears  by 
his  advertisements  in  the  newspapers,  he  sold  “English  Goods,  also 
English  Hatts,  etc.”  The  Engraving  is  reproduced  in  the  Docu¬ 
mentary  History  of  New  York,  iv.,  and  elsewhere.  The  Explanation 
thereof  is  only  to  be  found  complete  in  the  original.  This,  as  well 
as  the  anonymous  Second  Letter  to  a  Friend,  also  printed  at  Boston 
in  1755,  is  excellent  for  the  information  it  gives  as  to  the  condition 
of  the  ground  where  the  conflict  took  place,  and  the  position  of  the 
combatants.  The  unpublished  Archives  of  Massachusetts;  the 
correspondence  of  Sir  William  Johnson;, the  Review  of  Military 
Operations  in  North  America ;  Dwight,  Travels  in  New  England  and 
New  York,  iii. ;  and  Hoyt,  Antiquarian  Researches  on  Indian  Wars, 


1755.] 


A  COLONIAL  POET. 


329 


—  should  also  be  mentioned.  Dwight  and  Hoyt  drew  their  informa¬ 
tion  from  aged  survivors  of  the  battle.  I  have  repeatedly  examined 
the  localities. 

In  the  odd  effusion  of  the  colonial  muse  called  Tilden’s  Poems , 
chiefly  to  Animate  and  Rouse  the  Soldiers,  printed  1756,  is  a  piece 
styled  The  Christian  Hero,  or  New  England’s  Triumph,  beginning 
with  the  invocation,  — 


“  0  Heaven,  indulge  my  feeble  Muse, 
Teach  her  what  numbers  for  to  choose  I  n 


and  containing  the  following  stanza,  — 


“  Their  Dieskau  we  from  them  detain, 
While  Canada  aloud  complains 
And  counts  the  numbers  of  their  slain 


And  makes  a  dire  complaint ; 

The  Indians  to  their  demon  gods; 

And  with  the  French  there’s  little  odds, 
While  images  receive  their  nods, 


Invoking  rotten  saints.” 


I 


END  OF  YOL.  I, 


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